


you and me, we can light up the sky

by bearpantaloons



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, Inspired by Stardust, Kinda slow burny, Strangers to Friends to Lovers, and faeries, and witches, maybe sex we'll see how much room i leave for Jesus, oh my, there are a lot of characters in this story, there are sky pirates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-29
Updated: 2019-09-20
Packaged: 2020-09-29 17:43:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 30,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20439953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bearpantaloons/pseuds/bearpantaloons
Summary: Lena Luthor was an ordinary woman, living an ordinary life, about to become married to an ordinary man until a star fell to Earth. In a last-ditch attempt to preserve her freedom and independence, and avoid the mundane life of being someone's wife, she set off to search for the star to bring it back to her hometown.But she wasn't the only one after the star. Witches and greedy children of a monarch were also after the star for their own nefarious reasons. Lena did her best to keep the star out of evil's hands, while also falling for this fallen star in the process.Stardust AU





	1. Another Brick in the Wall

**Author's Note:**

> It's here! The Stardust AU. I'm hoping that by posting the first chapter, it will motivate me to finish it. 
> 
> Just as an FYI or a warning or what-have-you, Lena and Kara don't actually meet until Chapter 3, so if you want to wait until then, you can, but if you trust me as an author, read on.
> 
> P.S. Thanks to murdershegoat on tumblr and I think lhknox on here (?) for letting me steal this idea from her and run away with it.

Once there was a man who wanted to gain his Heart’s Desire. Nothing about him was particularly out of the ordinary, but things that happened to him definitely were, although he never paid much attention. His story wasn’t anything unique. In fact, most men’s stories turned out as his did – born into a rich family, trained in the ways of the family business, raised in his parents’ image. He grew up to become a handsome young man with plenty of women he could choose from, but his parents, of course, already had someone in mind for him to marry. He dreamed of a day where he would be able to go off and travel, go to places that had never been explored before, fall in love.

His story began in the small town of Wall. It was called Wall, because there was a giant bloody wall on the east side of town, where two guards – for lack of a better term – were posted on each side of the opening. They were mainly there to discourage stragglers or drunken townsfolk from going through it and rarely did they ever have to use force. Most of the time, they could just pretend their job was highly important and took a lot of naps, stating that they’ve had a hard day’s work already. The wall was made of grey stones, piled fifty feet high. No one knew why it was built or what it’s meant to be keeping out, but it had become a sort of legend now. Far be it for them to challenge a six hundred-year-old legend.

Now, the man in question lived in the town of Wall, spending his life being normal and predictable. Everyone was preparing for the market that was riding into town. It was the only time of the year where the guardians of the wall felt like they had something to do, because they would need to keep a close eye on all the riffraff coming in. At the time, Lionel Luthor was eighteen, fresh out of school and getting preened by his parents to take over the family business. He’d marry the woman they chose for him, probably live in a loveless marriage, but at least he’d be rich.

Lionel was handsome, he really could have his pick of the women in town, but he never really found anyone to his liking, much to his parents’ disappointment, which is why they resorted to setting him up with a local girl, Lillian. Her family also came from money and they were a well-suited match on paper, but Lionel felt nothing for her, and he knew he would have no say in the matter.

On the week that the market opened, Lionel’s name was drawn to stand watch over the wall. The other person assigned to stand watch over the wall was Jeremiah Danvers. He came from a modest family, his father ran the pub on the main road and always served the freshest veal. Lionel and Jeremiah held their cudgels close to their chests and waited for people to walk up to them to try and sneak glances through the hole in the wall. They’d turn away folks who walked up to try and get through, each of them looking past the wall and the dull-looking forest behind the wall and unassuming meadow in front of it. Most shrugged and turned around, heading back where they came from.

Their replacements came at twilight and were relieved of their duties. They headed toward the pub, where Jeremiah would start his next shift of work and take over for his father. Lionel sat down at the bar and ordered an ale, hoping to drink it down before anyone noticed he was there. The whole place was abuzz with excitement about the newcomers in town who were there for the market. It didn’t really make a difference to Lionel, who had no awareness of anything going on outside of Wall, as he’d never gone anywhere else. Just as he was about to leave, Jeremiah walked up to him and slid another pint of ale into his hand.

“See that couple over there,” he asked, nodding to a booth over Lionel’s shoulder. Lionel turned his head slightly and saw the people in question. He hummed an affirmation and Jeremiah continued. “Mercy and Otis Graves, brother and sister. They’re looking for a room for the night and I told them you knew a place. Do you parents still have that little cottage in town?”

Lionel nodded. “Yeah, they won’t get rid of it. Said it has too many _memories,_ or whatever, which just means they don’t want anyone else to own what they once had.”

“Well,” Jeremiah answered, slapping the bar top, “it’s time we put it to good use, don’t you think? Come on, I’ll introduce you.”

Jeremiah walked around the bar and grabbed Lionel by the elbow, dragging him to the two people sitting in the booth. Both had walnut brown hair, hard faces, and didn’t look like they belonged there at all.

“Mercy, Otis, this is my friend, Lionel. He said he has a place for you to stay.” The two guests looked up, their eyes sunken in a little, rough around the edges.

“Will you take us there?” the man, Otis, asked. Lionel nodded and they exited the bar together. The cottage was just up the road a ways, following the main street that cut right through the middle of Wall. Lionel led them there and unlocked the front door with his spare house key. It was dark and dusty, no one had been there to clean in ages. He lit a lamp and the soft yellow light flooded across the room.

Otis took Mercy’s coat and hung it on the coatrack next to the door. They both took a long look around the small cottage. It had a short couch, one bedroom, and one bathroom. After they seemed satisfied, both nodded at each other.

“Okay, Lionel Luthor, we will rent the cottage for the next three days,” Mercy said, speaking for the first time all night.

“I need payment up front,” Lionel answered. Truthfully, he had never rented anything in his life, but it sounded right. Otis pulled out a sack of coins from his jacket that he hadn’t hung up yet and handed it over to Lionel. His eyes widened as he took it in his hands. He had never seen so much money in one place before, as his parents only gave him a paltry allowance each week. “If you’re here for the market, shouldn’t you be peddling in miracles and wonders?”

“Is that what you’re after?” Mercy asked with a glint in her eye. “Very well. Tomorrow, you shall attain your Heart’s Desire. Now, if you’ll excuse us, we are very tired. My brother and I have traveled far.”

After that, Lionel took his leave and was about to head back to his parents’ estate when a crack of lightning ripped through the air. The rain came pouring down immediately after and Lionel took refuge in the barn next to the cottage. He grabbed an old blanket off of the haystacks and laid it down in the corner, resigned to sleep there for the night.

Lionel closed his eyes and just as he was about to drift off, he heard a knock at the barn door and a voice behind it.

“Sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if I could sleep here for the night. I was out in the thicket when it started to rain and I’m afraid I’m soaking wet.”

Lionel groaned and strained his eyes to see who was talking, but it was too dark. All he could see were two beady eyes, one blue and one yellow. “Yes, yes, that’s fine. Just don’t try anything funny. I have a knife.” The lie sounded convincing enough coming from his mouth and he heard shuffling nearby, a thanks, and then loud snores soon after.

By the time morning came, the other tiny creature who shared the barn with him was gone. He left nothing behind, so Lionel folded up the blanket and made sure his sack of coins was still with him. It was bundled up in his coat, every farthing still in place. He walked out to the cottage and saw that the lamps were no longer lit, Otis and Mercy had already left. After, he made his way to his parents’ house to change and wash his face.

He walked back down the stairs and said goodbye to his parents, heading to the market alone. On his way there, he passed the wall and saw all of the tents and booths of wares being set up. The trees were rustling in the wind and the two guards looked as bored as ever.

As he walked up to the hole in the wall, both guards jumped up, their long cudgels in hand. “Er, sorry, young Luthor. We’re not permitted to let anyone through until midday,” one of them said.

Lionel shrugged and turned around, heading toward Jeremiah’s pub. He sat down on a stool and drank his pint of ale, contemplating on what he could spend his new fortune on. He’d never wanted for anything, as his parents provided the necessities, but this time he could buy anything he wanted.

“You could get out of here with that much money,” Jeremiah said, wiping down the counter. His dark brown hair messy and his eyes were tired, but held strength behind them.

“Oh? And where would I go?” Lionel asked, taking a sip of his ale.

“Anywhere you want,” Jeremiah replied. “You could go anywhere. There’s nothing for you here. You know you’re better than this town.” He knew the money could take him pretty far outside of Wall, probably take him to his Heart’s Desire, whatever it was, but he’d never been anywhere before. It was a little daunting.

He heard the jingle of the bell above the pub door and light shone in from the afternoon sun. Lillian walked in, wearing a cream-colored sun dress and a flower in her hair. She asked him to take her to the market and he felt guilty about wanting to leave Wall, so he accepted. Lionel knew that Lillian was aching for him to propose, but he was dragging his feet, giving excuses like he wanted to wait until he was handed his father’s company officially, so she wouldn’t have to worry about their living conditions and she would be able to live a life of luxury.

On the way toward the market, they came across Otis and Mercy Graves. Otis tipped his hat at the both of them. “Good afternoon, Mr. Luthor and...”

“This is my, uh, this is Lillian,” Lionel replied. Otis took Lillian’s hand and placed a chaste kiss on it, causing her to giggle. Mercy stared her down inquisitively while she shook her hand. It was unnerving, but Lionel silently delighted in Lillian’s discomfort.

“Would you care to walk with us to the market?” Otis asked. Lillian looked unsure, but Lionel readily accepted the invitation. They walked through the wall and across the meadow toward the tents. “Have you been before?” the man asked. They had walked a little ways ahead of Lillian and Mercy.

“I went to the last one nine years ago when I was a young boy,” Lionel answered.

Otis hummed. “Well, remember to be polite. You’re a guest. Oh, and don’t take any gifts.” He stopped walking. “Now for the rest of my rent.”

“You already paid me,” Lionel said.

“Not money,” Otis replied. “A gift. One that will last a long, long time, your entire lifetime and your firstborn’s lifetime, as well.”

“You also just told me not to take any gifts.”

Otis smiled, satisfied by his answer. “You’re right, I did. Glad you were paying attention. This gift is free of charge.”

“What is the gift?”

“Your Heart’s Desire, of course.”

Lionel scoffed. “Just like that?” Surely, it couldn’t be that easy. Could it? Was Otis just going to have it materialize in front of them?

“This way,” Otis said, making his way through the bustling market. Vendors were shouting their wares out to customers to draw them in. They were selling things Lionel had never even heard of - ocarinas, everlasting lavender, rings of eternity, swords of fortune, oils and salves for every ailment one could think of. It was all overwhelming and exhilarating at the same time.

He watched Lillian peel off and stop at a stall that sold glass and crystal flowers of all shapes and colors. Lionel paused and walked up behind him, perusing the wares.

“Good afternoon,” the vendor greeted them both as she descended her caravan steps. Lionel picked up a flower – a violet. It sang when he touched it, a sound not too far off of rubbing a finger on the lip of a crystal glass.

“How much is this?” he asked.

The vendor looked at him quizzically. “The cost may be more than you are prepared to pay. Ask me general questions about the flower itself instead.”

“Okay,” Lionel drawled. “Where does it come from?”

The vendor smiled at him. “This particular one is from Mount Calamon, groves of grass as far as the eye can see, very difficult to reach and a perilous journey to retrieve.”

“And what is its purpose?” Lionel asked again, losing his patience.

“They are merely decorative. You can give it to a loved one, perhaps one you have your eye on,” she winked at Lillian. “The sounds they make are pleasing to the ear and the way they catch the light is quite beautiful.” She holds up a bluebell to the light and the lets the sun hit it and the crystal shines down to them.

Lionel didn’t hear Otis walk up to them, but he turned his head just as Otis tipped his hat to them. “And now my debt is paid in full. Enjoy your market.” He walked off with Mercy next to him and Lionel watched them disappear into the crowd. Lillian cleared her throat and Lionel switched his attention back to the vendor. He noticed a chain around the vendor’s ankle as she walked back and forth and he mentioned it.

“Oh, this chain? I am a slave to the witch who owns this caravan. I am bound to the stall until the market ends in two days. I was playing by a stream on my father’s land when I was a little girl and the witch lured me away in the form of a butterfly. When I followed her far out into the forest, she turned into her true form and threw me into a sack.”

“Are you a slave forever?”

The woman shook her head and smiled gently. “No, not forever. “I will be set free on the day the moon loses her daughter, if that day lands on a week when two Mondays come together. Until then, I will await patiently and do as I’m bid. Now, would you like to buy a flower? Perhaps one for your lady love here.”

“Oh, we’re not—“ Lionel began to say.

“We’ll take it,” Lillian interrupted, taking the flower right out of the Lionel’s hand.

The faerie-woman shook her head. “No, no. We do not take money at this stall.”

“Then what is the cost?” Lionel asked, putting his money away. It was then that he noticed the woman’s eyes became the same color of the flower, violet and vibrant.

The woman spoke again. “It could cost you your sense of smell, or your memories before you turned the age of three. I could also take the hearing from one of your ears – not all of it, just enough so that you would no longer enjoy music.” Lillian started to look uncomfortable.

“Come on, Lionel. This is a waste of time,” Lillian said, pulling on his arm.

“Or a kiss from you. Right here, on my cheek,” the woman added, tapping her finger on her pink skin.

“Oh, that I would do gladly,” Lionel said, ignoring the huff coming from Lillian. Looking even more put off than before, Lillian rolled her eyes and stomped away, leaving Lionel and the flower with the vendor.

“You can do much better, dear,” the woman said with a wink. She pointed to her right cheek and leaned in. Lionel looked around to see if anyone was watching and pecked the woman. He smelled her scent then and it filled him with an odd nostalgia that he couldn’t quite place. The woman handed him a flower, but not the same one that Lillian was holding. This one was a snowdrop.

“Oh, this isn’t the flower she chose.”

“No, dear boy. This one is much better, trust me.” Lionel reached out hesitantly and took the flower. “Now, Lionel Luthor, I will see you back here when the clock hits midnight and you’ll need to hoot like an owl. Can you do that?” Lionel nodded dumbly, not even asking how the woman knew his name, because with the kiss, Lionel knew his name had been taken, along with his heart.

He walked away from the stall and ran into Lillian once again, who was frowning, complaining that they had spent so much time at the first stall that they wouldn’t make it to the rest by the time the sun set. Lionel stared straight ahead, paying her no mind. Lillian called his name, snapped her fingers to get his attention, but nothing did.

“Lionel, what’s the matter with you?”

“He looks like he’s under a spell,” a random market-goer remarked. “Look at his eyes.” Lionel’s once bright eyes were glossed over and empty.

“We should get him out of the market,” another bystander said. “Come. Bring him to the pub.” Lillian sighed and followed the two strangers as they each slung one of Lionel’s arms around their shoulders and started walking toward the pub. They sat Lionel down on one of the stools and waited.

Jeremiah rushed over and put his hands on Lionel’s shoulders, brow furrowed with worry. “What happened to him?”

“Just a little elf-touched, nothing to be worried about,” one of the townspeople who brought him in said. “He should snap out of it any moment now.” Jeremiah went back to the bar to grab a damp towel and brought it back to start dabbing at Lionel’s forehead and cheeks.

Before the sun set, Lillian left Lionel in the care of Jeremiah and his father and went home. She gave the excuse of having to tend to some relatives who were in town, but everyone knew that Lillian absolutely hated her family and did whatever she could to avoid them.

When midnight hit, Lionel stood up from his seat and exited the bar while Jeremiah was in the back room getting stock. The moon was still low on the horizon and was as white as a shiny new pearl. A different sort of folk gathered around the market after dark, whispering and coaxing people to their tents, each with the promise of a different, more exciting attraction.

Lionel wandered through the market and ended up right back at the faerie-woman’s stall, but she was nowhere to be found. Instead, there was an older woman tending to the caravan. Lionel hooted into the night sky and waited. The old woman stared at him strangely and shook her head as she walked up the stairs to the caravan and shut herself inside. After a few more seconds, Lionel hooted again and the faerie-woman appeared beside him.

“You call that an owl hoot? Have you ever even heard an owl before?”

Lionel looked at her startled and sheepish, but smiled. They sat down next to each other behind the caravan. It was then that Lionel finally looked at the woman closely. She had hair as black as night, a youthful face, but it was aged by experience, and there was a distant sadness behind her eyes. The woman looked at Lionel and examined him just as closely.

“Do you think you are under a spell, young Lionel?”

“I’m not exactly sure. All I know is that I feel strange when I’m here, like I’m in a waking dream.” The faerie-woman laughed lightly, the sound calming Lionel.

“You aren’t under a spell, dear boy.” She lay back on the grass and stared up into the sky. They told each other stories, stories they’d heard about the stars and the mythical beings they were named after, until the faerie paused and turned her head toward Lena. “What do you want in life?”

Lionel pondered for a minute and then laughed at herself. “I want to fall in love. Is that foolish?”

The fae chuckled. “Not at all. Everyone wants to fall in love, but only few achieve it in its most raw and genuine form. Though, I believe there is hope for you. It certainly isn’t with that Lillian girl, though.”

Lionel scoffed. “Oh, no, not her. She is who my parents would choose if it were up to them. I am merely humoring them.” He sat up on his elbows and looked into the other woman’s eyes. If Lionel didn’t know any better, he’d think the woman wanted to kiss him, but he was inexperienced with matters of the heart. “And I think that maybe I want you.”

The faerie-woman smiled sadly. “I want my freedom,” she said quietly. Lionel frowned and looked at the thin chain around the woman’s ankle. He tugged at it, but it held tight. It shone the way fish scales do underwater and was silver and glittered in the moonlight. “Unbreakable until the terms of the spell are concluded. I suppose it could be worse. The chain is long, so I can wander pretty far, but the witch can be cruel at times and I am still bound to her.”

Lionel reached up and wipe a stray tear from the woman’s cheek. He leaned in tentatively and brushed his lips across hers, pausing for a moment, giving the other woman a chance to push him away. She didn’t, though, and kissed him soundly, lowing herself down onto the grass. This was also something new to Lionel – having relations in the middle of the night, with only the moon as a source of light, in the middle of a grass field where anyone could walk by.

Sure, he’d kissed a lot of girls before – hundreds, if anyone asked him, but this kiss was something else. All of his previous kisses also never led anywhere else past the innocent touch here or there and it certainly never led to what was about to happen with the faerie-woman.

Naturally, he didn’t bring any protection, because it wasn’t something he thought he’d need, and also, it was something that needed to happen in in order to further the plot of his story, so there he was, completely unprepared. The woman unbuckled his pants and straddled him, placing her hands on Lionel’s chest, and arching her back until her head tilted up to face the stars. If Lionel knew her name, he definitely would have called it out, rather than what he said, which was something along the lines of ‘beautiful faerie lady temptress’ or ‘woman who is taking my virginity.’

When they finished, they lay side by side on the still cool grass and Lionel laughed to himself. Of course this would be the way he’d sleep with a woman for the first time, never one for the conventional. He slid his hand on top of the woman’s and squeezed it gently. She looked over at him, the moonlight glowing on half of her face as she let her smile fall.

“You should be on your way home now,” she said, and turned her head away. She stood up and offered her hands for Lionel to take, lifting him off of the grass. Grabbing both sides of his face, she pulled him to her and kissed him one last time before retreating into the caravan without another word. Lionel was left alone and bewildered, feeling much older than his eighteen years of age. All that was left to do was go home, so that’s what he did.

The following day was the last day of the market, but Lionel did not return. Eventually, everything was packed up and all of the foreigners left to go back to where they came from, leaving the town of Wall to go back to normal, which was never quite normal to begin with. Two weeks after the market left, Jeremiah proposed to a local girl named Eliza and she accepted. The week after that, Lillian’s mother came to visit the Luthor household and they sat down for tea. They discussed Lillian and how she’d been so despondent ever since the market and Lionel’s mother suggested that it was probably due to Lionel.

“Lionel didn’t pro—“ Lillian’s mother began.

“What? Oh, no, not as of yet. His father and I are actually worried about him. He’s not getting his work done, he hardly eats. He’s been mooning, for lack of a better term. My husband says he just needs to settle down, not have to worry about anything else.” 

“Well, then, I guess it’s settled,” Lillian’s mother said, stirring her spoon in her teacup to dissolve the lump of sugar. “Anything to see my Lillian happy.”

A month later, Lionel and Lillian were married on a warm day in June. Lillian was radiating with happiness, but Lionel looked a bit distracted. Behind them, their fathers planned on building the two of them a house on the Luthor property and their mothers both discussed how beautiful Lillian looked. What was missing was the snowdrop that Lionel had purchased from the market, as he forbade Lillian from wearing it. That had been the only thing that he had to remember the faerie by and didn’t want it to be tainted by the wedding he was being pressured into having.

They lived in the small cottage where Otis and Mercy stayed while their house was being built. They were happy enough, or at least masked their disappointment with each other well enough to tolerate one another. Lionel continued to train under his father and prepare to take over the business while Lillian stayed at home.

Soon, autumn came, and then winter, and it was an especially cold one. The night air felt like tiny daggers stabbing at any exposed skin and no one left their homes, save for the two poor souls who were assigned to the wall. The two men who were there on one particular night were doing their best to stay warm. The fire they had built crackled and raged in front of them. They were too busy trying not to freeze to death that they didn’t hear anyone sneak up to the gap of the wall and leave a small basket at the opening.

A high-pitched wail echoed across the town that night, frightening the two men. They looked down and found the bundle wrapped up in a red blanket, closed with a silver pin and a scrap of parchment laid on top. The tiny red-faced baby was voicing her displeasure of being outside, cold and hungry. One of the men reached down to unfold the piece of paper and it had two words written across it:

_Lena Luthor_


	2. Everybody Wants to Rule the World

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I'm an impatient dummy, as most of you have probably already gathered, and I'm speed racing toward the supercorp meeting. If you're good, I may post the third chapter by the end of the weekend, but I need kudos and comments to live. Help me help you.

When Lena arrived at Lionel and Lillian’s doorstep, it set off a chain of reactions that would haunt Lena for years to come. Another nine years passed and the next Faerie Market was due to arrive. Young Lena Luthor at eight-years-old was not in attendance, because she’d been sent off to live with some distant relatives to live with them. Being a day’s ride away from Wall, she would not be able to settle a ride in time to go to the market, but her cousins were all able to go and brought back shiny baubles and colorful feathers that their loving parents had bought them.

The fact that Lionel had a sexual encounter with someone other than Lillian, at the same Faerie Market that they had both gone to together, no less, was something that was always brought up in any argument. It got to the point where Lionel and Lillian couldn’t go a day without fighting, so the only solution they could come up with was to ship Lena off to her grandparents’ cabin.

After a few years, they went back to fetch her and bring her home. Now twelve, Lena worked around the Luthor estate and was predominantly in the farmhouse, working with the animals. One of the barn cats had kittens and Lionel let Lena keep one of them as a weak apology for sending her off for so many years. The kitten that Lena chose had fur that had a blue sheen to it and its eyes changed color, depending on its mood. Lena loved that cat and the cat appeared to love her, as much as a cat could possibly love its human overlord.

One evening, the cat became restless and was pacing all around the house, making gravely noises and its eyes shone a deep crimson red. When Lionel opened the door to the house after a long day of work, the cat bolted outside and was off, never to be seen again. Lena was inconsolable for a while and Lionel tried to comfort her, saying that the cat was better off in the forest with its own kind. Lillian never said a word to her _daughter_ about it and told Lionel to stop coddling her. Sometimes, Lena would catch Lillian staring at her as if she was waiting for Lena to sprout faerie wings, or something.

Lena’s childhood wasn’t all bad. She loved going to school and learning new things, like long division and the topography of countries she’d never been to, or how to ask for a slice of cheese in French – things she’d use every single day of her life. By the time she was fifteen, through lewd jokes and stories from her classmates, she learned about sex. It never interested her much, but her friends constantly talked about it and how handsome the boys in their class were. Lena would play along and pretend that she agreed with them, but each day, whenever James Olsen walked her home, she wished he was someone else.

Before long, James was visiting Lena at her home almost every day, joking around with Lionel and making a good impression with Lillian. She knew he was working up to a proposal, but Lena would have rather lived as a spinster on the old Vasquez farm than be someone’s trophy wife. Just the thought of it made her ill. She had half a mind to leave the town of Wall, but there was nowhere to go. Her parents wouldn’t pay for her to go to university, because Lillian was convinced that if she and James got married, both of their families would create some sort of familial partnership like they were living in medieval castles. It was all so very ridiculous and Lena was sick of being thrown about like some sort of prized hog.

When Lena turned seventeen and James was the same age, Lena got a job at the local general store. If anything, it was so she wouldn’t have to stay at home with Lillian any longer than she had to be, listening to her criticize every single thing she did and _why can’t you just marry someone nice like the Olsen boy_. James came by one day with a list of ingredients, handing it to Lena. She gathered all of the stock into a basket and handed it back to him, but he hesitated.

“When are you finished with work?” he asked.

“She can be finished right now,” the shop owner Ms. Haley said. Lena cursed under her breath and shoved the basket of ingredients into James’ arms. She untied her apron and tossed it onto the counter and walked out of the store, the cheery jingle of the bell above the door mocking her.

Lena walked down the road, not waiting up for James, so he had to jog to catch up.

“Lena, wait,” he huffed. “I wanted to ask you something.”

“So ask,” Lena replied, not stopping or slowing down.

James took a few steps ahead and stood in front of Lena, stopping her forward march. She made an annoyed grunt and folded her arms. “Why don’t you want to marry me?”

“Do you want a list?” Lena answered. When James just looked at her dumbfounded, she sighed. “Okay, first, I’m not in love with you. I’m sorry, but I’m not. I’m not in love with anyone and I don’t want to be stuck in a loveless marriage the way my parents are.”

“What do you want?” James asked. Finally, a question worth answering.

Lena’s eyes shone as the sun began to set behind them. “I want to get out of Wall, I want to see the world. I used to want to fall in love, but that’s what my father also wished for and now look where he is. I just want to be able to make my own decisions, for once.”

James nodded and said nothing more. They walked the rest of the way in silence, just how Lena liked it. When they got to her house, James handed her an apple that he’d purchased from the store and bid her goodnight. Any other woman would be lucky to have James Olsen as their husband, but he just wasn’t the one for Lena.

* * *

“You’re getting married to James Olsen, and that’s final.”

“Excuse me? I believe I should have a say in whether or not I marry someone. Tell her, father!”

Lionel sat at the kitchen table silently while he peeled the apple James had given his daughter. He knew better than to take sides, but that meant feeling the wrath of both of the women in his household. He was very tired.

“If you marry an Olsen, our business partnership will thrive. Don’t you want our family to succeed?”

“Not at the expense of my freedom! I don’t want to be stuck in this town,” Lena shouted, begging her father to jump in at any time. Lionel took an apple slice into his mouth and turned in his chair.

“Lillian, don’t you think Lena is old enough to find herself a suitor?”

“Oh, of course you’d take her side,” Lillian spat. “Since you’re so unhappy here with me, is that right? You don’t want her to make the same mistake?”

Lionel sighed. “If you’ll remember, _dear_, I chose you in the end. You were the one I pursued for months and you wouldn’t even give me the time of day.”

Lillian scoffed. “Oh, is that right? You think you’re so gallant, don’t you, Lionel? I’m not letting the same thing happen to our daughter. I won’t let her be deluded into thinking that adventure awaits her on the other side of the wall.” Lena had no idea what her parents were talking about. They refused to talk about what happened between them before she was born and this was the most they’d ever spoken of it. “Well, in any case,” Lillian continued as she chopped vegetables, “I’ve already talked with James’ parents and they’ve agreed. You’ll have a June wedding and we’ll invite the whole town. The Lockwood family has graciously agreed to let us use the town hall as a reception hall and the Noonans will take care of the catering.

Lena couldn’t stand to listen to her mother any longer and stormed outside, crossing their large property and stopping on a tall hill that overlooked the town centre. She looked up at the sky and noticed that the stars were especially bright that night and she bit back the tears that threatened to flow. She heard footsteps behind her, but didn’t turn around, because shooting across the darkness before her was a falling star.

“Make a wish,” her father’s voice bellowed behind her. Lena closed her eyes and wished for a life that wasn’t hers. When she opened her eyes again, her father was standing beside her, also staring up into the night.

“Why don’t you ever talk about what happened between you and mother?” Lena asked. “You never talk about when I was a baby. I don’t even know if my birthday is actually my real birthday.”

“Because it was a long time ago, and no matter what happened, none of it matters. You’re our daughter and we love you more than anything.”

Lena scoffed. “Does mother know that?”

“Of course your mother loves you. She just has a hard time showing it, is all.”

“Do you love her?” Lena asked her father, still looking up into the sky.

Lionel wrapped an arm around Lena’s shoulder. “I do. No matter how hard and callous she may seem, she does have your best interests in mind. They also just so happen to be the family’s best interests, or so she thinks.”

Lena stared off at the horizon and then thought of a brilliant plan, a plan so brilliant that anyone would have paid top dollar to have thought of it. “I’m going to go find that fallen star.”

“You what?” Lionel asked, blinking a few times.

“If I can find that star and bring it back, maybe that’ll prove to mother that I have talents other than being someone’s wife. I don’t know, it’s worth a shot. If anything, it will postpone my marriage to James for a little while.”

Lionel looked at his daughter sympathetically. He’d never wanted this life for her. He wanted her to have grand adventures and do all of the things he couldn’t. He stood behind his daughter and squeezed her shoulders gently.

“It fell in the East,” he said, pointing straight ahead, over Lena’s shoulder.

“East,” Lena repeated. There were two different easts. One was the east that was through the forest that led into the next county and then there was East, past the wall, which was the East where the star fell.

After a few more minutes of stargazing, they headed back home. Lena started to plan out what she was going to do and how she was going to transport a star back to Wall. She wasn’t sure if it would burn her hands or if she would even be able to hold it, but that was a problem for Future Lena and continued walking. She would need to stop at home for some supplies before heading off to find her star.

When she walked into the house, Lillian took one look at her and sneered. “Nice of you both to show up after gallivanting who knows where. Dinner’s ready. You’re welcome.”

Lena rolled her eyes and Lionel kissed the side of Lillian’s head before grabbing himself a plate of food. Lena went right upstairs and started to gather some supplies and her coat. When she had everything, she climbed back down the stairs and paused in the kitchen.

“I’m going to be leaving, not sure when I’ll be back,” Lena said, ignoring her mother’s icy glare.

“Leaving? Leaving where?” Lillian demanded.

“I’m going to go find a star that fell in the East,” replied Lena, throwing her bag over her shoulder.

Lillian’s glare switched over to Lionel. “This is all your fault, putting these delusions of grandeur in her head with your stories.”

Lionel shut his eyes and took a deep breath. “Just let her do this one thing, Lillian. It will do her some good to get out of town for a while. Let me speak to her, please give us a moment.” Lillian huffed and left the room. Lionel patted the seat beside him and Lena sat down. “Do you have what you need?” Lena nodded. “And do you have a plan to get past the wall?”

“I have an idea,” Lena replied. She had absolutely no idea. She was thinking maybe she would be able to sneak by or climb the wall further down, but she hadn’t actually thought it through. She was hoping Old Man Carr was assigned to the wall; he always fell asleep while on duty. Lionel stuffed a loaf of bread, a block of cheese, and another apple into Lena’s bag. He walked her into the sitting room where Lillian was angrily drinking tea in front of the fireplace.

“She’s all ready to go,” Lionel announced, nudging Lena forward.

Only the tinkling of the spoon against the ceramic cup came from Lillian until she finally stopped and placed it on the small table beside her. “If you find this star, you don’t have to marry James.”

“Really?” Lena squeaked, her surprise getting the better of her.

“There’s no way you’ll be able to find it and bring it home, so, yes really. Bring it back and you’re free to marry whomever you want.” Lena rushed over to hug Lillian and placed a chaste kiss on her cheek. She could’ve sworn she saw Lillian smile ever so slightly, but it was gone the minute she pulled away. Lionel kissed his wife on the forehead before heading toward the front door.

Lena walked out of the house with her father. They mostly walked in silence, but when they got to the edge of town, right before the wall, Lionel turned to Lena and looked down at her.

“I know you haven’t had the easiest childhood and much if it is my fault, like your mother said. I made a decision when I was a young boy and that decision didn’t only affect me. But I would make it again in every lifetime if it meant having you as a daughter. I dreamed of being rich and having adventures and falling in love, but honestly, I had all of that when you were born. I just wish I had been a better father to you and didn’t send you away for all those years. I can’t make up for those years, but I can do this one last thing for you.” Lena furrowed her brow, not sure what her father meant. When she watched Lionel turn away and walk toward the two guards – Mr. Lane and the daughter of Mr. Vasquez – Lena knew what he was doing.

“Good evening, General Lane. Susan,” he nodded at the both of them.

“Lionel, how can we help you?” Sam Lane was a hefty fellow and Susan was small, but stronger than she looked. Lionel inquired about the weather, a recipe for rhubarb pie that Sam’s wife made once for a picnic. Lena started to get annoyed and stayed back until Lionel mentioned her.

“I’m sure the both of you know my daughter, Lena.” The other two nodded. “And you know where she came from.” Susan nodded again. She’d heard tales of the girl who’d been born of faerie blood in school and although she wasn’t sure if she believed it, she had no reason not to. “Well, you see, there’s a star that fell to the East and Lena here means to find it.” Lionel then whispered something into General Lane’s ear, too quiet for anyone else to hear and pressed something into the man’s palm.

The portly man looked at Lena and nodded. “Go on with you, then. Go get your star.” Lena walked past the three others and up the hill, past the meadow. She looked back down at them and gave a little wave, wondering why she was allowed through. Lionel gave something to General Lane – a bribe? She continued walking further away from Wall and the chilled evening air started to warm up and the moon shone overhead, which was strange. It was strange, because the moon had already set and the moon that hung above Wall was a crescent, but this moon was a full, harvest moon, shining its golden orange light down on her.

Something in her coat pocket drew her attention and she pulled it out and brought it up to the light. It was a glass flower – a snowdrop. She examined it curiously and ran her finger across the petals, entranced by the ethereal melody that came from it. Stuffing it back into her pocket, she continued her trek east. She looked ahead at the great expanse of unexplored land that she’d never been to before.

A wave of apprehension filled her body as she turned around back toward Wall. She could still see the trail she walked from her father to where she currently stood and knew that he wouldn’t think any less of her if she turned back, but she didn’t want to give her mother the satisfaction knowing that she’d won. And she definitely didn’t want to marry James Olsen. If finding a star and bringing it back to Wall was the only way she’d be free from an arranged marriage, so be it. She steeled herself and turned back around, marching toward the great unknown, on her way to find her star.

* * *

Many years ago, before anyone in this story was born, or any of their parents or grandparents or great-great-great-great-great grandparents, for that matter, Daxam Keep had been built on the highest mountain and overlooked the entire land.

When the first Lord built the keep, it was but a tiny castle, but as the next lord and the next ruled, they each expanded and it grew and grew until it took over the entire face of a mountain. It was there that the eighty-first Lord of Daxam lay dying in his bedchamber. His quarters were in the highest tower of the castle, sticking out like a knot in a tree. Lar Gand called his wife, Rhea, and their children to his bedside, both those who had already passed and those still living. Those no longer alive were Zod, Morgan, Lex, and Veronica. The children still alive were Mon-El, Leslie, and Maxwell, who were switching their attention between their dying father and their deceased siblings. Each of them had ridiculous nicknames that their father had given them to indicate the order they were born – Max was Primus, Mon-El was Tertius, Leslie was Septimus, and so forth. Some say it was because the lord lost track of his children and their names often, but the children never called themselves by their numerical names.

They did their best to keep their attention on their dying father and pretend they were really only there for him, not for whatever announcement he was about to make. The room was cold and felt like they were trying to keep Lar Gand refrigerated before he passed. He beckoned his wife over to him and she sat down on the edge of the bed, taking one of his hands in hers. It was widely known that the Lady of Daxam had no love for Lar Gand and their arranged marriage had been rocky for many years, especially after what happened to their firstborn daughter, but she stayed for the children.

Lar Gand whispered something into her ear and Rhea nodded, then called their children over. They paid their dead siblings no mind, trying to avert their eyes as they walked by. The three remaining children of Lar Gand had killed one sibling each. Zod, however, had been killed on a hunting accident, nothing to do with his siblings, who were nowhere nearby. It was something of a mystery, but it was one less sibling to fight over the throne, so no one questioned it.

“I suppose we should discuss succession,” Lar Gand finally said, breaths short and voice low. He counted his remaining children one-by-one and stops at Mon-El. “Una?”

“Er, no father, it’s your son. Tertius.”

“Where is your sister?” Mon-El, Max, and Leslie all looked at each other and shook their heads. No one had heard from their sister in well over a decade, so she was thought to be dead. “Well, no matter. You snooze, you lose. Let’s begin.”

Secretly, the eighty-first lord had hoped that only one child would be left by the time he died, but alas. Now, he had to devise a plan to decide who would take over the keep after he was gone and he knew his insolent children wouldn’t rest until the other siblings were out of the way. He urged his son Max to him.

“Primus, go look out the window and tell me what you see.”

Max smirked and walked over, looking out into the vast kingdom. “I see our kingdom, Father. Vast and widespread. Everything the light touches is ou—“ He was pushed out of the window and fell to his death. Leslie shrugged and walked back to Lar Gand’s bedside.

“He always did talk too much,” she quipped.

Max’s ghost form appeared next to his siblings, half of his face flattened like a pancake, all sitting on a long banister across one of the bedroom walls. “Well, that was rude.”

Lar Gand smiled proudly. “Well then, I guess it’s only down to the two of you, Septimus and Tertius. Now, both of you go look out the window and tell me what you see.” Both of them walked up to the window, but stayed far enough away that they couldn’t get thrown out of it.

“It is as Primus said, Father. It’s our land and nothing more,” Mon-El said.

Leslie looked out and spotted something shining in the sky. “There is a star, Father.”

“Ah,” said Lar Gand. He grasped a stone that hung around his neck and ripped the chain’s clasp, holding the stone out in front of him. The stone of topaz held all of the power of Daxam and whoever possessed it would become the eighty-second Lord of Daxam. Lar Gand released his hold on the stone and it began to float in the air, sparkling in the moonlight until it shot out of the window of its own accord, flying up high into the sky. “Whoever fetches the stone will have my blessing to take over Daxam.” Mon-El, Leslie, and Rhea stared at the topaz as it flew higher and higher until it reached the star that was making its descent into Earth’s atmosphere.

“There,” Leslie pointed. It fell lower and lower until it disappeared into the horizon somewhere East.

“It has begun,” Lar Gand said with his last breath. His spirit joined his children on the bench as they watched Leslie and Mon-El, to see what they do next. They stood there, staring at one another for a while, until Mon-El broke the silence.

“I suppose we should tell the people that Father is dead.”

Rhea nodded. “Yes, that would be wise.”

They began to make arrangements when Morgan walked up to Mon-El and examined his pensive face. “What do you think he’s thinking about?”

“Probably how he can get rid of Leslie,” Veronica answered. “It’s what I would do.”

“I hope Leslie murders the hell out of him,” added Lex, still bitter about the way he was killed. The rest of the siblings, and Lar Gand, as well, all nodded in agreement.

But they weren’t the only ones who saw the star fall. Deep in the thick, dark woods, where no birds sang and other animals stalked around in the dark, a trio of women hunched around a table inside of an old, thatch-roofed cottage. The air smelled of dead animals and rotting fruit, just the way they liked it.

They were deciding who would leave the cottage to go search for the fallen star, which would feed them their youth for many centuries to come. Their reflections in a large mirror planted on the wall showed their true, aged, selves, decrepit and boney, faces littered with wrinkles.

One of the trio, the youngest, looked out the mirror just as the star fell to the horizon. The other two were busy dissecting a creature on a short table.

“Sisters! Come quick!” The other two dropped their chopping knives and rushed to the window.

“It’s about time,” one of them said. “Come, let’s pick who gets to go find it.”

They gathered around the table once more. “Entrails?” the third woman asked. The other two nodded. All three of them reached into the slender eel-like animal and pulled out an organ each.

“I have a kidney,” the youngest of the three said.

“I’ve got a liver,” the oldest said.

“And I’ve its heart,” the third sister said, opening her hand and showing the other two.

“You will need some years,” the oldest said. The youngest nodded and left to go find a box that was hidden away on a shelf. The oldest sister began tying a knot into a piece of string while the youngest brought the box over. The string was handed to the next sister to tie and then the third. The middle sister opened the box slowly and something bright and shiny flitted around, trying to avoid her grasp, but she caught it.

“Not much left,” the middle sister said.

“It’s a good thing we’re going to get a new one,” replied the oldest.

“After two hundred years,” the youngest noted.

The middle sister took the last fragment of star and popped it into her mouth. The walls of the cottage shook and the trinkets on their shelves rattled. She stood before the giant, black mirror and watched her wrinkles disappear, her age spots lightened, and the crow’s feet at the corners of her eyes smoothed out. “Fear not, sisters. I will bring the star back and we will feast on her heart. All of us will have many more years.”

Deep in the woods, a small cat with one blue eye and the other yellow found a field mouse and lowered itself in a pouncing position. It looked up into the sky and saw a light twinkling off in the distance, but the light seemed to be getting bigger and brighter. When the cat realized that the light wasn’t just a light at all, its eyes turned a vibrant orange color and it scampered away, leaving the mouse behind as the star fell lower and lower, snapping tree branches in her wake until it crashed into the forest floor, leaving a giant crater in the middle of the dirt.

The star, wearing a simple white dress that reached her ankles, stood up and brushed herself off, looking around at her surroundings. She stared up at the sky and then back at the ground, then back at the sky, and then the ground again, the realization that she was no longer in the sky with her other star siblings hitting her like a sack of bricks.

“Shoot.”


	3. I Put a Spell on You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was going to make all the chapter titles John Mulaney quotes, but then they started becoming Fall Out Boy song titles in length, so I settled on making them British band song titles instead.
> 
> Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy our faves finally meeting.

If you were to tell Lena that she’d be knee-deep in mud, in the middle of a forest swamp, while searching for a fallen star that may or may not be in the direction she was walking, just so she didn’t have to marry some overzealous oaf, she’d think you were mad. But, there she was, knee-deep in mud, trying to use the constellations that were half-covered by the canopy of trees above to direct her to the star.

She stopped walking, hands set on her hips while she tried to get her bearings, only, every tree looked the same. Every rock looked like the last rock she passed and every twig was the same twig that she’d seen before. With a frustrated huff, she sat down and opened her pouch to have a snack, pulling the block of cheese her father packed up. The cat, whose prey was now in the middle of a crater, peeked its furry head out from behind a fallen tree trunk and stared at Lena’s cheese.

“Oh, hello there. Would you like to share a meal?” Lena asked. The cat stepped forward carefully and stared at Lena’s outstretched hand filled with cheese. It took another step forward. Then another. Then it was close enough to take the cheese, which it did, and shoved the whole thing in its mouth. Lena chuckled at the curious creature and popped a chunk of cheese into her own mouth. The cat swallowed.

“I’m looking for a fallen star. I don’t suppose you’ve seen one,” Lena replied. The cat’s multi-colored eyes widened and it looked behind its shoulder, down the path where it had come from. It looked back up at Lena, examining her facial features closely.

“What is your name?” the cat asked. Lena gasped slightly.

“You can speak?”

“Of course I can speak, silly girl. You look like someone I used to know.” He beckoned her to get closer and she bent down until she was crouched down to the ground at near eye level with the cat. He put his tiny little paws on her face and looked at her closely.

“My name is Lena Luthor,” said Lena as the cat continued his examination.

“Luthor?” he replied. “Do you know Lionel Luthor?”

“He’s my father.” The cat released Lena and jumped up onto Lena’s leg and climbed up to her shoulder.

“Your father! He helped me in my time of need once, during one of the Faerie Markets many years ago. It was bucketing down and I needed a place to stay and he let me sleep in his barn. I may or may not have had a litter of kittens in that very same barn, but that’s neither here nor there. Nice chap. Anyway, there was a star that fell about a kilometer that way,” the cat said, pointing in a direction through the woods. Lena picked up her sack and started heading that way with the cat trotting ahead of her.

It took Lena a good while to navigate her way through the dense forest until they finally came upon the giant crater in the middle of the dirt, but the star was nowhere to be found.

“She was right here,” the cat said. “Must’ve wandered off.”

Lena kept walking, right on past the crater, searching for anything that resembled a star. In truth, she had no idea what a star would look like after it had fallen to the Earth’s surface.

“What do I do when I find the star?” Lena asked the cat, as if he would know. The cat started to pull a long string of silver out of her pocket. It kept going and going and Lena wondered how the whole thing fit in such a tiny space, and also how a cat could even have a pocket.

“You can use this. Just tie it around something and it’ll be unbreakable.” The cat began to coil the string around Lena’s wrist until the loose ends were no longer dangling down. “Oh! I nearly forgot. There’s this, too.” She pulled out a small stub of a candle with a short wick and held it out to Lena. “This is a candle of Babylon. You just have to think about where you want to go and it’ll take you. I think it only has a couple more uses in it, so use them wisely.”

Lena took the candle in her hand. “I don’t know how to thank you.”

The cat waved her away. “Your father helped me in my time of need, so it’s only fair that I help his daughter. Paying it forward and all that. Anyway, enough nostalgic sentimentality. Off you go.” He hopped down off her shoulder and stood in front of her, giving her a big smile that spread across her tiny little head. Lena held the candle in front of herself and took a matchbox out of her bag, striking the last match on the rough side of the box. She lit the candle and closed her eyes, thinking of the fallen star. She could feel the ground beneath her start to rumble and a wind picked up and swirled around her and through the trees, rustling the leaves.

When she opened her eyes, she was not standing in the same place as before. If she could hazard a guess, she was deeper in the woods and it was much darker and ominous, save for one bright shining light in front of her. It appeared to be a young woman sitting on a tree stump, hunched over, shoulders shaking. She was crying.

“Um, excuse me?” Lena called out. The woman stopped making any noise and tensed her body. Completely forgetting why she was there in the first place, Lena took a couple of cautious steps forward. “Are you okay? Are you lost?” She reached out and brushed the woman’s shoulder with her hand. Her entire body warmed up, not like a blush, but more like sitting on a beach with the sun radiating down and everything felt comfortable and right. Lena jerked her hand back and noticed the silver string that the cat had tied to her wrist. The other woman whipped around at the touch and took a step back, hands clenched at her sides. “What do you want?”

Right, this woman was the star. The whole reason why Lena was on this journey in the first place.

“I need you to come with me,” Lena said weakly.

“I most certainly will not,” the star responded, crossing her arms over her chest. “What makes you think you have any authority over me? You don’t even know me.”

“Please,” Lena pleaded with the star, her arms outstretched. “If I don’t take you back with me, I’m going to be forced into a marriage that will most likely leave me unhappy until the day I die.”

The star looked at her with an unamused look. “How is any of that my problem? I didn’t ask to get thrown through space and crash land in… wherever it is that I am.” She started pacing and limped on her right leg. “Oh, phooey. Of course I’d get hurt on my landing. Ouch.” She sat down on the forest floor and… pouted. She was actually pouting, bottom lip stuck out and everything. Lena uncoiled the silver string and took the star’s hand. “Hey! What do you think you’re doing?”

Lena wrapped the other end of the thin silver string around the star’s wrist and watched it tie itself around and around until they were joined together. “I told you, I need to take you back with me.”

The star huffed. “I’m not going anywhere with you.” Lena tried to pull her up, tried dragging her with the string, but the star wouldn’t budge. Sighing, she sat down on the stump and pulled the candle out of her pack, setting in the palm of her hand. It was just a short nub and the wick was practically burned off. There was no way that she’d be able to use it to get back to town.

“Do stars sleep?”

Silence.

“Okay, well, I need to sleep before heading back to Wall.” She took a thin blanket out of her pack and lay it on the floor, using the pack as a pillow. Soon after, she was fast asleep and the star tried everything she could to get the string off of her wrist. She tried prying it off with a stick, biting through it, pulling on it, but nothing worked. She looked back up at the sky at all of the other stars still shining up above, wishing she were there with them. After a few minutes more, she gave up and leaned against a tree until she, too, fell asleep.

In the morning, birds were chirping and the chilled air was what woke Lena up, not the incessant snoring that was coming from the star, who had laid down on the ground near Lena’s head sometime in the night. Lena took the opportunity to examine the star’s features more closely. She had honey blonde hair that fell in waves, freckles across her cheeks, and she remembered her having the most piercingly blue eyes when they were glaring daggers at her. Aesthetically speaking, the star was very pretty, not that Lena was paying attention to that sort of thing, but anyway.

The star began to stir and stretched her arms above her head, the string yanking Lena’s arm with it. The star looked at Lena blearily and then frowned. “Oh, so it wasn’t a dream. Splendid.”

Lena stood then, packing up the blanket and brushing off the dirt and twigs from her clothing. “Can you walk?”

The star stood up and bounced a little on her feet, kicking her legs out. “Yes. I heal fast.”

“Great, then we should be heading out.” Lena looked around, trying to figure out which direction to go and the star was being no help whatsoever. She started walking in a random direction, and tugged gently on the string that was attached to the star, leading them both through the dense forest. After walking for a kilometer or so, Lena’s stomach grumbled, indicating that she was hungry. The star hadn’t mentioned hunger, or anything, for that matter. All she did was stare at the back of Lena’s head reproachfully as they both walked in a direction that may or may not take them back to Wall.

“What should I call you?” Lena asked, turning her head to look over her shoulder at the star, who was _still_ pouting. She didn’t answer, just shrugged. “Well, I can’t very well just call you Star.”

“What does it matter? You’re going to take me back to your home and sell me off to the highest bidder, anyway.” The hurt tone in her voice shook Lena to her core. Truthfully, she hadn’t even thought about what she was going to do with the star once she got her back to Wall. She didn’t need the money after the Graves’ patronage, and she couldn’t really imagine herself selling her to anyone like a piece of butcher meat. She’d figure it all out later, she supposed. 

* * *

Leslie climbed out of her coach after a long night of traveling and happened upon a small inn. Smoke rose from the tiny chimney on the roof and it looked practically empty, which was preferable, as Leslie didn’t want to be bothered while she plotted her brother’s death. Not a minute later, a second, jet black, coach pulled up behind Leslie’s smaller one and she scowled. Her brother caught up to her somehow, even though she’d had a good head start. She walked inside the inn and heard her brother’s footsteps close behind.

Mon-El walked up to the innkeeper and requested two separate rooms, having plenty of money to pay for it, and also requested that they not be disturbed. The innkeeper nodded in understanding, the light from the fire shining on his wrinkled face as he accepted the payment. He told them he’d send his wife up with some dinner and there was hot water, so they could all have a bath later.

Both of them went to their respective rooms to wash away the day and start to relax. Mon-El began sharpening his sword at the foot of his bed. In the next room over, Leslie was drawing herself a bath when there was a knock on her door.

“Just leave it there. I’ll get it later,” she called out. Another knock followed and she sighed, wrapping a towel around herself. She opened the door, peeking out, and a knife whizzed past her head. She looked down the hall and saw Mon-El cursing himself while he reached into his coat to pull out his sword. Leslie slammed the door shut and dove behind her bed, grabbing her axe and belt. She hastily threw on a loose shirt and some pants before she heard her bedroom door creak open. Footsteps echoed through the room as Mon-El stalked slowly toward her.

Leslie stood up suddenly and threw her axe straight for Mon-El’s head, but he dodged it swiftly and Leslie jumped out the window, falling down and landing on a convenient pile of hay. She ran across a field, too far for any of Mon-El’s weapons to reach her and he growled in frustration.

“Damn it,” he sneered as he watched his sister escape. He gathered his knives that were stuck into the wood of the room and stormed downstairs to drink his irritation away.

* * *

As it turned out, Lena was further away from Wall than she had anticipated. When she used the Babylon candle, it must have taken her further East than it appeared when she saw the star fall. Walking on foot was probably going to take weeks, so they would need to find another means of transportation.

She tried to keep up conversations throughout their journey, but the star kept stubbornly silent, refusing to answer any of Lena’s questions.

“You know, this journey is going to take a while. We may as well become acquainted.” The star continued pouting and walking with her arms crossed, not saying a word. Lena sighed and they kept walking until they happened upon a small town. Finally, they may be able to settle down for the night and actually have a bath and a hot meal. Lena pushed her way through the door, the bell above them jingling as they entered. She walked up to the innkeeper and requested a room.

“Just one room?” he asked, sounding slightly accusatory, glancing at the star and then back at her. Then glancing at the string around both of their wrists. Far be it from him to understand what young folks got up to those days. He’d rather not know.

“Yes,” answered Lena, not giving him any explanations or excuses. She pulled out one of the coins from her pouch and set it down on the counter. The innkeeper handed her a key and said his wife would be up to give them a hot meal soon. Lena thanked him and turned, seeing a man sitting in front of the fire, brooding. Thinking nothing of it, Lena passed him and didn’t notice the eyes that bore through the both of them as they walked up the stairs to their room.

The room was modest, the bed large enough for two and a bathtub sitting in the center. Unfortunately, there was no curtain, so they’d either have to bathe in front of each other, or go without and suffer through their stench.

“You can bathe, if you want. I’ll turn around,” Lena offered.

“How chivalrous,” the star replied sarcastically. “You hold me hostage, but allow me to bathe in your presence.”

Lena sighed and rubbed her sore eyes. “Listen, I’m exhausted. You can bathe or you can stand there and mope all night. I really don’t care.”

The star considered her options and began to disrobe in front of Lena, who squeaked and turned around quickly, her face and… other areas heating up. Once the star submerged herself in the steaming hot water, she moaned loudly, clearly trying to get a rise out of Lena. Thankfully, a knock at the door gave Lena something else to concentrate on. When she opened the door, a short woman stood before her with a platter of fruits, meats, and cheese. She smiled warmly at her and peeked around Lena’s hip to see the star bathing herself and humming to herself. The older woman raised an eyebrow and winked at Lena before walking back down the hallway. Lena shook her head and closed the door behind her before setting the platter on the table.

“What do stars eat, anyway?” she asked, plucking a grape off of a bunch.

The star shrugged, her back facing Lena. “Normal stuff, I guess - dark matter, nebulas, sometimes quasars.

“So, you’ve never had salted meat? Plums? Pie?” The star shook her head. Lena handed the star a towel. “Come, try some of this.” The star stood up, completely nude, before wrapping the towel around herself. Lena shot her eyes up to the ceiling. She was going to have to talk to the star about decency and tried to calm her erratic heartbeat and the fire that was lighting itself down below. She cleared her throat as the star sat down on the stool across from Lena and looked at the platter, picking up a sliver of cheese.

“What’s this?”

“Cow’s cheese, try it.” The star took a small bite and winced, putting the rest of the slice back. She picked up an apple slice and bit into it.

“Oh, this is nice. I like this. What is it?”

“An apple.”

“Apple,” the star repeated. “Yes, I enjoy this. More of this, please.”

Lena raised an eyebrow in amusement and started handing the star the sweet things on the plate and she munched on them happily. Lena glanced over at the tub longingly. She wanted to bathe, but would wait until the star was asleep.

“Did you not want to clean yourself?” the star asked, as if she was reading Lena’s mind.

“Oh, no, I can wait.”

“Nonsense! Here,” the star insisted as she stood over the tub and pushed a single tear out of her eye. Lena watched curiously as it fell to the dirty water and it became crystal clear again. The star then placed her hands on the outside of the tub and Lena watched the water bubble and steam began to rise. Lena had never seen anything like that happen before. “I will give you some privacy. I’ll see if the innkeeper has anything they need help with downstairs.”

The star left the room, the silver strand around her wrist magically extending itself as she walked away, and Lena began to remove her clothing before lowering a foot into the tub. With her entire body now underwater, she let out the loudest groan and soaked her tired and sore body for a while.

Meanwhile, the star pranced around downstairs and found the innkeeper’s wife sweeping the floor while her husband tended to the bar area, serving a few people. The star noticed one of the men with short brown hair looking at her, but she paid him no mind.

Walking up to the older woman, the star bowed before speaking. “Good evening, madam. I was wondering if you needed help with anything. My, er, traveling companion is in the bath and I was hoping to pass the time.”

“Oh, well, that’s very nice of you, dear. If you’d like to clear the old glasses from the tables and wipe them down with a rag, that would be very helpful.” The star smiled cheerfully and went right to work. She stacked the old empty glasses on each other and took a damp cloth from one of the tables, wiping all of them down. As she was walking toward the kitchen to stow the dirty glasses, the man sitting at the bar stepped right in front of her, blocking her way.

“Pardon me, I couldn’t help but notice you working. Excuse me for saying this, but you’re absolutely radiant.”

The star blushed slightly and ducked her head. “Well, thank you, that’s very kind of you to say.”

“Would you, perhaps, join me for a drink? When you’re done working, of course.”

“I'd be glad to,” replied the star. What harm could it do? She’d never had a drink before, so she was curious. After placing the glasses inside of the kitchen sink, she went back and sat down at the bar with the nice gentleman and he poured them both a couple of drinks. He plucked at the silver string with his finger.

“What is this?”

“Oh, it’s, uh… so I don’t get lost. I get lost very easily,” she lied.

The man looked at her with an amused expression on his face. “I’m sure there are far better methods to keep track of someone.”

The star shrugged and sipped her drink. It burned a little as it descended down her throat, but it didn’t taste bad. She took another, larger, gulp and before she knew it, half of it was gone. The man looked at her slack-jawed while his still full glass sat on the bar top. He asked the innkeeper for another and he sat back and watched her go through three more drinks in quick succession.

“My name is Mon-El,” he said, finally introducing himself.

“I’m—“

“Get away from him,” Lena said, stomping down the stairs and putting her body between the other two.

“Well, hey, we were just having a nice chat,” Mon-El said. “Nothing to get uppity about.”

Lena felt the hairs on her neck stand on end. “Uppity? _Uppity?_ Excuse me, but we don’t know you. You could be a killer for all we know.

“Come on, Lena. Don’ be a shpoil shport.”

“Are you _drunk_?”

“She may have had a few, yes. But don’t worry, it’s my own home brew. Until I find my sister, I shan’t drink or eat from anything but my own reserves.” He took another large gulp from his glass.

Lena sneered at the man and took the star by the hand, pulling her back towards the stairs. The star looked back at the man and waved her hand flaccidly and he waved back.

“Be seeing you soon,” he muttered.

Lena shut the door to their room behind them and the star flopped onto the bed. “I don’ get why you were s’mean. He gave me happy juice!” She hiccupped.

“You don’t even know him,” replied Lena, shifting the star so that her legs were no longer dangling off the edge of the bed. “Or what he gave you.”

“I don’t know you, either,” the star said solemnly. Lena sighed and lay down on the opposite side of the bed. “In fact, I’m just a prisoner t’you.” She lifted her wrist, the string dangling from it.

“You’re not a prisoner, you’re just—look, fine.” Lena tried to loosen the string, but it remained tight around her wrist. The star scoffed.

“You can’t remove it until your quest is complete.” The star looked at her with sad eyes.

“How does the string know what I’m trying to achieve? And how will it know I’ve achieved it?”

The star shrugged and wiggled her fingers. “Magic.”

Changing the subject, Lena asked how the star fell to Earth. “Did you trip on something? Get pushed?”

The star snorted. “No, something bumped into me and threw me off-course.” She took a pendant out from under her shirt – a topaz gem encased in silver hanging from a thin chain. “I don’t know what it is, but it matches my hair, soooo I kept it. I think I’m drunk. Is this what being drunk feels like?” She slaps her hand onto Lena’s cheek softly. “Your face isss-so smooth. I wanna lick it.”

“Okay, it’s time for bed,” Lena said, removing the star’s hand and lying her down onto the pillows. The star giggled and wrapped herself up in the blankets.

Lena looked at the star dumbly, her blue eyes looking even more vibrant than before. Her own eyes betrayed her and they darted down to look at the star’s lips for a split-second and she swallowed thickly. She had no idea what was happening to her, but she’d never felt anything like it before in her life. Never had she felt this much attraction for a person, not that the town of Wall was full of award-winning thoroughbreds, but she wondered what her father felt when he met the faerie-woman at the market that one fateful day. He’d told her that it almost felt like being electrocuted and enveloped in the warmth of the sun all at once.

The star turned on her side, facing away from Lena, the string remaining taut as it pulled Lena’s arm closer to the star’s back. If Lena extended her fingers outward, she’d be able to touch her, but she dared not, fearing that it would burn her as if she were touching the sun itself.

“My name is Kara, by the way,” the star muttered sleepily. “S’you can stop callin’ me star.”

“Goodnight… Kara,” Lena said softly. No response came, only light snores and Lena did her best to calm her heartbeat and fall asleep, as well.

Downstairs, Mon-El sharpened one of his blades in front of the fire while he bade his time. There was something about the young blonde woman he’d met earlier, something almost magical, and he wanted to know what it was. The other woman may become a problem, but he’d deal with her easily. Then he’d need to find his sister and deal with her, as well. The fire crackled all night until it became smoldering embers, Mon-El asleep in the chair.

Further outside of the town, the witch rode down the dirt path in her chariot, pulled by a couple of small goats, when she came upon a caravan with and old woman cooking a hare on a spit out front. The witch stopped the chariot and dismounted, walking up to the woman slowly.

“Eh? Who’s that? My eyes aren’t what they used to be, but I’ve still got a spell or two that will turn your tongue into ash.”

“Worry not woman,” said the witch, holding her hands up. “I mean you no harm, just a weary traveler looking for a hot meal and a place to sleep for the night.” The witch glanced over at the caravan, its mahogany wood shone in the flame’s light and she also noticed a small blue bird attached to it by a silver string around its leg.

“Sit down, then,” the old woman said, turning the spit once more. “Rabbit’ll be ready in a moment. I’ve got some pomegranate juice over there. Help yourself.” The witch reached over and poured herself a cup of juice.

“That bird up there,” the witch pointed, “what’s the story there?”

“Ah,” the old woman croaked. “She gave away one of my prized flowers for next to nothing nearly twenty years ago, so she owes me a debt and stays a bird unless I need something carried or other manual labor to be done.” The bird hopped around on her perch and tweeted sadly.

“Anyway, the name’s Mistress Marsdin.”

“You may call me Mistress Teschmacher,” the witch replied, sipping her juice. The vendor woman nodded and took the hare off the spit.

“Shall we flip a coin to see who gets which end?”

The witch shook her head. “Your choice, I am your guest here.” The other woman cut the hare in half, slicing through the carcass as if it were butter. She plated both halves and gave one of them to the witch.

“I’ve no salt, but I have some herbs here. Shake it on top of the meat. It’s some thyme, a little bit of mountain basil – my own recipe.”

The witch did so and passed it back to the other woman. She tore off some flesh and hungrily stuffed it into her mouth, moaning in satisfaction.

“Good, yes?” the vendor confirmed.

“Perfectly edible, the herbs definitely make the dish,” replied the witch. There was an odd gleam in the other woman’s eye. “There’s another taste that I can’t pin down, however.”

“Ah,” the other woman said. “Yes, that would be the herb found off the cliffs of the Cogo Sea. The taste reminds me of fennel with a little hint of nutmeg, pretty orange flowers, too.”

“Limbus grass? You fed me Limbus grass?” Mistress Teschmacher squawked, throwing her plate to the ground.

“It appears so,” Mistress Marsdin replied calmly. “Now, Mistress Teschmacher, if that is truly your name, tell me where you’re off to. You remind me of someone I once knew and I never forget a face.”

“I am traveling East to find a star,” Mistress Teschmacher blurted out. “And when I find this star, I will cut out her heart and take it back to my sisters who are awaiting my return. We will feed on the star’s heart and get back hundreds of years that we so rightfully deserve.”

“The heart of a star?” Mistress Marsdin hooted. She danced a little jig and spun around in a circle. “I will find this star before you, take a bite of her heart – just enough to thicken my hair and smooth out my wrinkles, then I will take it to the next Faerie Market and make a fortune.”

“You will do no such thing,” Mistress Teschmacher said.

“Oh? You’re my guest. You ate my food. According to the laws of our sisterhood, you cannot harm me.” Mistress Marsdin said proudly.

“I can do many things,” replied Mistress Teschmacher. “And I don’t need to remind you that Limbus grass forces me to tell the truth.” She took a step closer, her hands beginning to glow green. “You will not be able to see the star, sense it, hear it. You will not be able to touch it, much less kill it. Just so you know, I did vow to do you no harm, but if I had, I would have turned you into a fly and plucked out every single one of your legs one-by-one, followed by your wings.” With her hands now outstretched, a trail of smoke flowed from her fingertips to Mistress Marsdin’s face and into her nostrils.

“Wh-Who are you?”

“When you knew me last, I ruled over the trio of volcanoes that were named after my sisters and I before it was lost.”

“The Three Sisters. But… you’re dead. All of you died off long ago.”

“Apparently not,” Mistress Teschmacher answered with a smirk. “In any case, I no longer need to worry about you. Once I leave, you’ll forget you ever saw me, and you will never find the star. I hope this reminds you to treat your future guests with more kindness than you’ve shown me.” She picked up one of the plates and tossed it into the fire, breaking her spell on Mistress Marsdin. She snapped out of it and saw the plate in the middle of the fire, hurrying to grab a stick to pull it out.

“Now what possessed you to throw the plate into the fire? And my good knife, perfectly good cutlery, all burned now,” A breeze blew by and when Mistress Marsdin looked up again, she was completely alone. “Huh, now what was I doing?” In the distance, the sound that resembled the pitter patter of hooves on a dirt road echoed through the night sky and Mistress Marsdin shook her head and continued to clean up. “Must be getting old. Nothing to be done about that.”

The bird flapped her wings anxiously and paced back and forth on her perch, wishing she could speak. Although, chances were she wouldn’t tell the old hag anything. She was tired of being her prisoner and longed to be free, but she was trapped there until the witch released her. So, the bird just sat on her perch quietly, waiting for the next unfortunate souls to happen upon them, hoping they didn’t do anything to warrant the witch’s ire. Maybe the next traveler would be her hero.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I made a slight change to the first chapter that talked about Lionel allowing a stranger to sleep in his barn. Mentioned the blue and yellow eyes and now that cat became this cat, and Lena's pet cat was this cat's baby. It's all very convoluted and only really matters to me, but I'm trying to make it so each character has a purpose.
> 
> tumblr: bearpantaloons  
Twitter: tapdancinghippo


	4. Candle in the Wind

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s my party and I’ll post if I want to.

When morning came, Lena blinked as the sun rose and hit her face through the tiny slit in the curtains. She realized that she was pressed up to the star’s back and had her arm all the way across her body. Her eyes widened and she tried to carefully and meticulously remove her arm without waking Kara, but it didn’t work and Kara just grabbed onto Lena’s arm and brought it up to her chest, pulling her back down into her.  
  
“Um, Kara, we should get up and keep travelling.”  
  
The star mumbled something incomprehensible and shook her head. “Too early. I’m nocturnal.” Lena chuckled and got out of bed, pulling on the string that connected them and practically pulled Kara off of the bed. “Hey!” she exclaimed. Lena ignored her and started getting dressed. As she pulled on her boots, she could feel Kara glaring daggers at the back of her head.  
  
“Come on, let’s get some breakfast. You liked the apples, right? I’ll get you more.” Kara perked up a little, imagining biting into a crisp, sweet apple and she unconsciously licked her lips. She hopped out of bed and followed Lena downstairs. The fire was down to its last embers and someone was busy making a ruckus in the kitchen. Mon-El was nowhere to be found, thankfully. They sat down at one of the tables a woman who wasn’t there the night before walked up to them. She had curly blonde hair and a strange glint in her eye. Behind the bar was another man who had a severe underbite and a scraggly white beard on his chin, and another doe-eyed woman was in the corner, sweeping.  
  
“Good morning, dearies. I hope you had a nice rest. Would you like some breakfast?”  
  
Lena nodded. “Yes, please. Could I have some porridge? My friend here would like a platter of fruit.”  
  
“Extra apples, please,” Kara added with a grin.  
  
“Of course, sweetheart,” the woman smiled back, retreating into the kitchen to fetch their food. Lena couldn’t put her finger on it, but something about this woman rubbed her the wrong way, and the way she kept staring at Kara made her wary. The younger woman walked up to them with two glasses of milk and set them down at the table.

  
“The man who was here last night, has he checked out yet?” Lena asked.  
  
The young woman stared at her and just as she was about to open her mouth to speak, the other woman pushed her aside.  
  
“Dark and broody? Yes indeed, left at first light.” Lena let out a sigh of relief as Sir Underbite came out with their food, setting the platter of fruit in front of Kara and the porridge in front of Lena.  
  
“What happened to the other innkeeper and his wife?” Lena inquired, eating a spoonful of porridge.

”Day off,” answered the stand-in innkeeper. There was a crash in the kitchen and she rolled her eyes and sighed. “Excuse me. Oh, and don’t forget to drink your milk, strong bones and all that.” She left Lena and Kara to finish their breakfast.

They ate their meal in companionable silence and Kara happily bounced in her chair while she ate her dried apricots and apples. Lena didn’t touch the milk, because she was lactose intolerant and an opaque white liquid looked suspicious to Kara, so she didn’t drink it, either.  
  
“Are we going back to Wall after this?” Kara asked, chewing on an apricot.  
  
“That’s the plan,” replied Lena. “Although, we still have a ways to go.”  
  
“How much further do you think?”  
  
Lena shrugged. “At least a few days.” In actuality, she had no idea. She wasn’t even sure where they were. “We should try to find a coach, or some horses.” Lena felt eyes on them and glanced over her shoulder. The two employees were watching them like hawks and the talkative woman was pouring herself a glass of a brown liquid. The door to the inn swung wide open suddenly and a woman, drenched by the rain pouring down outside stumbled inside. Rounding the bar with the glass in her hand, the innkeeper watched the other woman carefully.  
  
“Welcome,” greeted the older woman. “Can I make you a cup of tea? Looks like you could use some.”  
  
The other woman shook her head. “I’m looking for my brother, have some business to take care of with him.”  
  
“Well, we are the only people in this inn at the moment. Unless Billy over there is your brother, I don’t believe he’s here.” Billy attempted a smile, but it came out like a grimace.  
  
With a huff, the other woman slumped into a chair and rung out her wet hair. “Fine. I’ll take that tea then, if you please.” She looked over at Lena and Kara, narrowing her eyes at them, as if she was trying to solve a puzzle.  
  
Lena gave Kara a look and stood up, walking over to the woman and sitting down at her table. “I don’t suppose you have a carriage, do you? My friend and I are trying to get back to Wall and we have no means of transportation. We can pay, of course.”  
  
Inside of the kitchen, the newly-appointed innkeeper pulled out a small bottle from the confines of her cleavage and pulled the cork out, pouring it into the teacup and stirring it with a spoon. She turned to Billy and whispered, “My sisters told me others would be after the star – siblings – so this must be one of them. If not, oh well. Go take this out to her.”  
  
Billy took the teacup and put it on a small saucer, placing that on a tray with a scone. He walked out into the lobby and set it in front of the sad, wet, woman. She brought the cup to her lips and stopped just before it hit her lips, looking back at Lena, who was still standing in front of her. “Actually, I have one out front. I supposed I can take you in that general direction while I try to find my brother.” She set the tea down, also ignoring the scone, and thanked the innkeeper, paying for the untouched food and drink. The other woman nodded back at her with a glare and waited until all three women left before turning to her companions.  
  
“Wonderful, now we have to get rid of that blonde wet blanket if we want to get to the star. I should have killed the other two while they slept when I had the chance. Come on.” She shoved the other two out the back door and harnessed Billy and his large-bosomed coworker. “Now to turn you back into goats, because you do make really disgusting-looking humans.” Mistress Teschmacher waved her hands around and the other two turned back into their original forms, clomping their hooves into the ground and baa-ing. She climbed into the tiny carriage and snapped the reins to get the goats moving, hot on pursuit of the other carriage.  
  
Meanwhile, Lena sat in the driver’s seat with their new chauffer, whose name they’d learned was Leslie, and Kara sat inside of the carriage.  
  
“So, what takes you to Wall?” Leslie asked, completely unaware that they were being followed. The rain continued to pour down and Lena hugged her coat closer around her body, but it didn’t do any good.  
  
“I’m trying to get her back to show my parents that I don’t need to have an arranged marriage,” Lena replied, motioning toward Kara. “They think that because I haven’t married anyone yet, I’ll end up alone forever. I don’t want to be considered the most miserable wretch in the town anymore, so I’ve got to take her back and show them.”  
  
“Ah, found your match then, have you? You’re in love, so anyone in your position is the most miserable wretch.”  
  
“Oh, me and Kara? No, no, you don’t understand. I—“  
  
“I was in love once,” Leslie continued. “Until my brother Mon-El killed her for no reason other than it tilted the scales against him. He knew he wouldn’t be able to beat both of us. Coward.”  
  
“Is that why you’re going after him?” asked Lena.  
  
Leslie scoffed. “Goodness no. I’m going to kill him, so I can rule my father’s land. We’re the last two siblings left out of eight. All the rest have already met their demise, fortunately for us. Our father drew his last breath not more than a couple days ago and he sent us off on this ridiculous hunt for a topaz gem, which could very well be anywhere. My brother probably used his soothsayers to try to get readings from runes, but they all work for me and should have led him astray. Clearly, they didn’t do their job if we ended up in the same place.”  
  
Lena sat quietly, wondering what she’d gotten herself into. They were traveling with a homicidal woman who intended to kill her brother, who was also supposedly homicidal, so she could rule over some mystical faraway land she’d never heard of. Then she thought about the gem around Kara’s neck and swallowed thickly. Hopefully, she and Kara would make it to Wall before finding Leslie’s brother on the way there.  
  
“This storm sure is something else,” Leslie spoke out loud, interrupting Lena’s thoughts.  
  
“What do you mean?” replied Lena.  
  
“There’s just something about it, feels different.” Lena looked up into the darkened sky, the drops falling to her face and dripping down her cheeks. She heard the sound of hoof beats coming up behind them and she turned to look, gasping at the sight of the woman from the inn in a coach pulled by two goats.  
  
“We’re being chased!”  
  
“Hang on,” Leslie instructed her and Lena sat back and did so. Kara poked her head out of the coach’s window when she felt it lurch forward and increased velocity.  
  
“What’s happening?” she yelled over the thunder and wind.  
  
“The woman from the inn is behind us,” said Lena as she pointed behind them. Kara leaned out further to look and Leslie did a double-take, staring at the gem that hung around Kara’s neck.  
  
“It’s you,” she whispered. Leslie pulled the reins on the horses and stopped their coach. “Stay here. Once I get rid of this witch, I’ll be back for you.” She hopped off and stomped toward Mistress Teschmacher, whipping out two daggers from her belt. The goats bleated and stopped just before running into her. Just as Leslie was about to throw her daggers at the two horned beasts, a voice boomed through the air.  
  
“Sister! So glad you could make it.”  
  
“Mon-El,” Leslie said through grated teeth. Now she had two people to kill. While the three of them were busy, Lena jumped off the carriage and opened the door, pulling Kara out.  
  
“Now it’s the man from the inn,” Kara said, pointing at Mon-El. “Maybe he’s here to rescue us.”  
  
“No, I really don’t think so. We need to get out of here. Something tells me they’re all after you.”  
  
“There’s nowhere to go,” Kara replied, looking at the flat ground all around them. Not even so much as a boulder was nearby. Kara peeked around the back of the carriage and saw Leslie, Mon-El, and the witch circling around one another, waiting for the others to pounce first. The witch’s fingers twitched and she threw both hands out in front of her, seemingly pulling lightning from the storm down to her and aiming it at the others. Both dodged masterfully and the lightning zapped past them, hitting a tree and setting a hay bale on fire.  
  
“Over there, come on,” Lena said, pulling Kara by the hand toward the fiery blaze of former horse food. She pulled out the Babylon candle out of her coat and tried to pull the wick up as far as it would go, but it was still too short. Lena held Kara tight with her other arm and out of the corner of her eye, she saw Mon-El running toward them.  
  
“They’re getting away!” he yelled.  
  
Leslie followed, attempting to throw daggers at Mon-El to stop him from running and the witch climbed onto one of the goats and rode it after them. She swung a thin blade at Leslie’s head, but the younger woman was able to anticipate it and roll out of the way. Off in the distance, two horses were coming up toward them and one ran right into the goat and knocked the witch off its back. The real innkeeper and his wife were there with a few other townsfolk to chase away the interlopers who took over the inn and left the real innkeeper hanging by his toes out back by the storage shed. The innkeeper’s wife let out a loud cry that almost mimicked a yodel as she tossed angry chickens at Leslie and Mon-El, their sharp claws and beaks scratching at their faces. Mon-El did what he could to cut down the fowl and jumped on his own horse before retreating. Leslie followed suit after cutting one of the horses free from her own carriage and rode off in the opposite direction.  
  
Mistress Teschmacher was the only one left and she sneered at the townspeople who were surrounding her. She wouldn’t be outdone by these simple folk. Her eyes began to glow a dark green and she mumbled some unintelligible words before the wind started to pick up. The townsfolk held up their arms in front of their eyes, the wind stinging them so badly that they could barely see. The wind started swirling around, becoming a massive tornado surrounding all of them and the witch began to float above them all.  
  
“You think you can beat me with your pitchforks and shillelaghs? Do you not know who I am? I am one of the Three Sisters, the most powerful witch who ever lived.”  
  
Lena and Kara watched in horror as the tornado picked up the townsfolk and threw them thousands of yards away. Mistress Teschmacher then stood on her goats, one foot on each of their backs and ran after Mon-El and Leslie, screeching into the wind, waving her blade in the air. Lena grabbed Kara by the shoulders to get her attention. “I need you to walk. Don’t let go of me,” Lena instructed. Kara looked into her eyes, her own filled with fear, but she nodded. They took a step together toward the fiery hay bale. Lena took a deep breath and plunged her entire hand into the fire with the Babylon candle, trying not to scream. “Think of home!” Lena yelled over the wind and the howls coming from the witch.  
  
The second they took their first step, they immediately shot up into the sky, leaving Mistress Teschmacher behind on the solid ground. Up, higher and higher they flew, past the trees and toward the stars that Kara once knew. When the wax of the candle melted away completely down Lena’s hand and the burning was too much for her to bear, their ascension ended. Above the land Lena had come to know as her home was where the candle burned out its last flame.


	5. Get Off Of My Cloud

Mon-El wiped the sweat from his brow as he kicked the dead corpses of the goats at his feet. He’d dispatched Mistress Teschmacher’s two hairy mounts, but she had, in turn, caught Leslie’s gut on the end of her sharp dagger, which had gotten shattered during the scuffle. Normally, that wouldn’t matter to Mon-El, but there were rules that had to be followed, and one such rule was that if someone other than Lar Gand’s brood killed one of them, the remaining relatives were bound to exact revenge on whoever took the life.

“Which means you have to avenge me, brother,” Leslie smirked.

Mon-El kicked the dirt at his feet and pouted like a petulant child. He didn’t _want_ to have to chase the witch to the ends of the earth and kill her. He wanted to rule Daxam Keep _now_.

“She’s right, that’s the rule,” added Lex.

“I know it’s the rule!” spat Mon-El. Now that all of his other siblings were dead, he could hear all of them bicker and piss and moan all the live-long day and he was already tired of it. His coach and horses were gone, so he had to hoof it to wherever the witch went.

“The dark-haired one said something about going to Wall, so maybe that’s where everyone went. The girl and the star disappeared outta thin air, though, so who knows where they are now,” Leslie shrugged. It was as good an idea as any, so Mon-El headed west for the small town of Wall. “Hey! You’re just going to leave my body there?” the recently-deceased sibling shouted at him. Mon-El grumbled something crude under his breath and threw Leslie’s lifeless body over his shoulder and trudged through the farmland, hoping to find some mountainside or cliff to throw the body over.

Up above the starlit sky, Lena and Kara sat on a fluffy white cloud and watched Mon-El stomp off. The rain continued pouring down, soaking the both of them. Kara frowned and crossed her arms over her chest before standing up and twirling around to confront Lena.

“What did you do?” she exclaimed.

“What did I do? What did _you_ do?”

Kara scoffed. “You told me to think of home, so I did. If you wanted me to think of your home, you should have mentioned that. This is just fantastic. You’ve really gone and done it now.”

“What? Saved your life?” Lena replied incredulously. “And it’s not like I had a whole lot of time to give you bullet point instructions while an evil witch and some greedy man were trying to kill us. I was kind of in a hurry.”

“You could have left it all well alone, but no, you had to go and use the Babylon candle and whisk me away _yet again, _and now the candle is out and we’re stuck here.”

Lena’s forehead creased as she tried to understand what the problem was. They had been getting along, or at least she thought they were, but now it felt like they were back at square one and Kara despised her again. The star was being completely unreasonable. _Could have left it well enough alone._ And what? Let the witch just take her and cut her heart out? Lena really didn’t want to fight and, quite frankly, she was exhausted. And yet, if they wanted to survive, they would have to help each other and Lena couldn’t stand the glare Kara was giving her. “Look, I don’t—“

“It’s a law amongst the stars that if someone saves the life of one of us, we become bound to them, which means I am bound to you. Wherever you go, I go. So, I really don’t need this stupid chain leash any longer.” She held up her wrist and glared at the silver strand that held her captive.

“I guess I made a mess of things. I was just trying to protect you.”

“I don’t _need_ your protection. In fact, I don’t need you at all. Besides, you’re just using me for your own personal gain just like the rest of them will.” Kara huffed and moved over to the opposite side of the cloud.

Lena chewed on the corner of her lip, trying to figure out a way to fix everything. “You know, I’m really not that bad. People say I’m stuck-up and hard to get to know, but I just like my privacy and independence, that’s all. Wall is stifling, constricting. I just wanted to live my life the way I wanted, not how other people wanted.” Kara kept her back facing Lena. Lena let out a long breath and turned her body toward the star. “Listen, maybe we got off on the wrong foot. I’m sorry about tying you to me with the silver string and then bonding you to me by saving your life. Can we start over?” She held out her hand as if to ready it for a handshake. “I’m Lena, it’s nice to meet you.”

Kara turned her head slightly, glancing down at the hand and rolled her eyes. She muttered something along the likes of _I’d much rather shake the hand of black hole_. Lena didn’t let up, though, continuing to keep her hand extended with a hopeful look in her eye. Kara puffed out a frustrated breath and shook Lena’s hand briefly before snatching her hand back.

“See, that wasn’t so hard,” Lena smiled proudly. “Let me try to get this chain off.” She tugged on the silver string, trying to loosen it enough to remove it. Taking Kara’s hand in her own, she gently slid the string off her wrist, trying to ignore the soft skin beneath her fingertips and the goosebumps that formed on Kara’s arm. Lena cleared her throat and stuffed the chain in her pocket. “Now, we have to figure out how to get off of this cloud without killing ourselves. I don’t suppose you can fly, can you?”

“No, only fall, apparently,” Kara replied sarcastically. She looked down at Lena’s other hand that was set on top of the cloud, burned and blistered. “Your hand.”

Lena lifted her hand up and shook it carelessly. “It’s nothing, I’m okay.”

Kara huffed and took it, holding it delicately. She pressed at the corner of one of her eyes until a tear formed and the droplet fell onto Lena’s skin, soothing it and erasing any evidence that it had been burned in the first place. Lena just stared at her hand and balled it into a fist before extending her fingers again.

“Geez, what else can your tears do?”

“Hopefully, you’ll never have to find out,” Kara answered, wiping away the rest of the wetness from her face. They sat in silence for a while longer, floating slowly through the sky, while below, Mistress Teschmacher was sitting atop another stolen coach being pulled by four midnight black horses. Her hair had gone gray down to the roots and the crow’s feet spread out across the edges of her eyes. The more magic that she used, the more years she lost.

She pulled over on the side of the road, finding a large puddle in the mud. Whispering a spell under her breath, she waved her hands above the dirty water until the images of her two sisters appeared.

“Goodness gracious, Eve. Look at you. You look as old as you did when you left here. Where is the star? Do you have her?”

“Move over, Imra. Let me see!”

Mistress Teschmacher shook her head and bared her teeth. “I was so close. She was right there in front of me, but she had protection. There’s also the matter of this other fool who’s after the star and he complicated things for me, as well. And if that wasn’t enough, my blade was shattered.”

“Well, what are you doing talkin’ to us? Go get the star!” the youngest sister exclaimed.

Mistress Teschmacher sneered. “Indigo, if it were that easy, I would. I can’t find her; it’s almost like she’s no longer on this plane.

“No, she is still there,” the eldest, Imra, said. “The bones tell us she is airborne. But you must hurry. If she passes the wall, she will no longer be of use to us.” It was true. The land of magic and Faerie on the opposite side of the wall was what allowed Kara to be who she currently was. If she were to cross into the town of Wall, she would become nothing more than a cold, dead, metallic rock.

“I’ll head toward Argo. Everyone has to pass through there in order to get to Wall. I’ll catch them, rip the head off of the human girl and tear the heart right out of the star’s chest if I have to.” Her sisters looked at each other and then at Mistress Teschmacher disapprovingly. Eve sucked in her teeth and then spat into the puddle, the ripples wiping away the reflections and she climbed back onto her coach, slapping the reins down to get the horses moving again.

Up above, Lena paced around the cloud, but it was hard to see anything past the white blobs all around them. “Hello!” she called out through her cupped hands.

“What are you doing? No one can hear us from up here.”

“Do you have a better idea? You never know who might be up he—_ah_!” Lena was suddenly scooped up into a large net and Kara was, as well. They were dumped onto a hard, wooden floor and were surrounded by a group of people wearing goggles and rain slickers.

A woman with short, auburn hair stared at them and spoke over her shoulder. “Captain J’onzz, we caught ourselves a couple o’ Lightning Marshals.”

A man with skin dark as the night sky and an intimidating scowl stepped forward and examined them closely. “They don’t look like Lightning Marshals to me. Look kind of green. Better safe than sorry, though, I suppose. Take them to the brig.”

“You heard the captain,” the same woman ordered. “Stick ‘em in the brig and then get back to work. We’ve got lightning to catch.”

A crack of thunder shook the ship and the sky turned dark. Rain started pouring down on them as Lena and Kara were taken to a storage room beneath the ship’s deck that acted as a brig. The ship continued sailing through the air while another man tied Lena and Kara together, sitting them down on the dirty floor of the lower deck of the ship, the only light coming from a small window on the side of the wall.

“Do you think they’re going to kill us?” Kara asked.

“I don’t know,” replied Lena.

“You know, it’s funny. I used to look down at this world and watch people having all sorts of adventures. I envied them. Being stuck up here in the sky, not being able to join in, made me wish for a more exciting life.”

Lena turned her head to the side. “There’s nothing wrong with dreaming. I used to dream about having my own adventures like my father did when he was a boy. He used to tell me all kinds of stories when I was young. I don’t think any of them were real, though, and then he sent me away to live with relatives when he and my mother started fighting a lot. I think he didn’t want me to lose my sense of adventure, wanted me to keep believing in love.”

“Do you?”

“Do I what?” asked Lena.

“Still believe in love,” Kara replied.

Lena shrugged her shoulders. “Well, no one I know ever had that fairytale love that you read about in books. My parents weren’t each other’s first choice and I was trying to avoid marrying someone I didn’t love by finding a fallen star to prove myself to them. I thought I would just head East and find a chunk of space rock on the ground.”

“But you got me,” Kara said with a chuckle.

Lena laughed. “And I got you. I don’t know. What if fairytale love doesn’t actually exist? Maybe I should just marry James and get it over with.”

“Well, the little I know about love is that it should be something that you feel with your entire being. It feels like you’re surrounded by light and warmth all the time.”

“My father did once tell me that being with my mother felt like being set on fire over and over again, because her angry tongue lashings burned him so.”

Kara remained quiet for a few seconds and then burst into peals of laughter, Lena joining in. Their laughter died down and a calm silence fell between them. Kara clasped her hand over Lena’s and squeezed. Lena felt her body warm up in the cold, dank brig.

“I never did thank you for saving me.”

“That’s because you were too busy blaming me for getting us in this mess,” Lena answered jokingly. “I don’t blame you, though. I know you just want to go home.” A beat passed and when Kara let go of her hand, Lena instantly missed the warmth. “What if I help you get back home after I’ve shown you to my parents?”

“If we get out of this situation we’re in, you mean? And escape the witch and the other man? And find our way back to Wall?”

“Yes, after all of that,” Lena laughed lightly.

“I would be grateful for the assistance, although, I don’t know if it would be possible. Stars fall, they don’t go back up.”

“We’re in the sky now, aren’t we?”

Kara rolled her eyes. “Yes, but that was because of the Babylon candle, which has completely burned out. Who knows where we can get another one.”

“I’ll figure something out,” Lena said reassuringly. The door to the brig swung wide open and the captain stood in the doorway before strolling inside, circling around the both of them before walking over to the window and opening it.

“All right, you two are going to tell me who you are and what you were doing up in the clouds, or else I’ll throw you to the gallows.”

“My name is Lena Luthor and this is my-my wife, Kara.”

Kara looked at the back of Lena’s head with a raised eyebrow, but said nothing. The captain continued pacing around them, scratching his chin.

“Your wife, huh? Are you certain you don’t need a man’s touch?” He said the last two words extra loud and they could hear cheers coming from the open window. “We like to share on this vessel, don’t we?” More cheers came.

“Please, we don’t want any trouble. We were lost and are just looking for our way home when you fine folks picked us up. If you let us go, we won’t be any bother at all.”

“Oh no, see, if I let you go, what will my crew think? They’ll see me as soft and I’ll have a mutiny on my hands. I could hang you both, that’s always good for morale. Perhaps walking the plank, always a classic. Or, I guess I’ll have to bite off each of your fingers one by one until you confess what you’re really doing here.” His voice carried throughout the whole brig, as if he were talking to more than just the two of them. “Play along,” he whispered to them as he untied their bonds. Lena looked at him questioningly, but did as she was told.

“O-oh no, not our fingers,” she said a little louder than necessary. “We’ll tell you everything. Please leave our fingers intact. I may need them later.” Her eyes glanced over at Kara’s direction and blushed. The captain nodded at her and grinned. Kara looked at both of them like they had lost their minds.

“Honest, sir, we just want to go home. We’re not Lightning Marshals.”

“I’ve had it with your lies! I will not tolerate it any longer.” J’onn stomped around and tossed a straw person out the window, throwing Lena behind a crate to hide.

“Yargh!” The captain yelled before walking back to the door and knocking on it. It opened wide and the woman with red hair walked in. J’onn grabbed Kara by the arm and pushed her toward the door. “Take her to my chambers. I’ll continue the interrogation there, if you know what I mean.” The woman nodded and walked over to Kara, ushering her up the stairs. Along the way, they passed the rest of the crew who glowered at Kara and watched her every move carefully. Inside of the captain’s chambers were maps from distant lands and scrolls with foreign languages scribbled across them. A mahogany desk with a chair sat on one side and in the next room was a magnificently large bed, a wardrobe, and a gigantic closet.

Lena was already there, wearing only a pair of long johns, her old clothes had been given to the fake Lena that was now swimming with the fishes. J’onn had shown her the hidden passageways that led straight to the captain’s quarters. “I can’t believe they bought that. Why do you have straw men just sitting in the brig?”

“They come in handy when you want to keep a handle on your rowdy crew without spilling a drop of blood. Come, come. Sit down.” Kara and Lena sat down on a round ottoman at the foot of the captain’s bed. “Allow me to formally introduce myself. My name is J’onn J’onzz and I am the captain of this lightning chaser vessel. Over there is Alexandra Danvers, or Alex, as she prefers to be called. My most trusted first mate.”

Kara continued to look very confused by the entire situation, so Lena introduced the both of them, explaining how they met and that they’re trying to get back to Wall. She also told him about the witch and the prince who were after them.

“Well, I assure you, as long as you’re in my care, no harm will come to either one of you. On one condition.” The two girls looked at him questioningly. “You let me give you both makeovers. You look like you haven’t bathed in weeks and your clothes are filthy. Alex, show them to the bath.”

Alex escorted them through another door that connected to the bedroom and it was full of gold and ivory-colored tiles. Lena had never seen anything as extravagant as it before. Alex walked over to a cabinet and pulled out two sets of towels and lay two robes down on the edge of the bathtub. The bath had already been drawn and the tub was full of bubbles nearly overflowing out the edges.

“I’ll leave you to it,” Alex winked. Her rough exterior had fallen away once she was out of sight of J’onn. She left the bathroom and shut the door behind her. Lena stared at the bath and wondered why people insisted on shoving them into places with one bath and expecting them both to share as if that were perfectly normal.

“Um, you can go first. I can, uh, go sit on the bench over there,” Lena said, pointing to a small bench in front of a window.

“Don’t be ridiculous, it’ll be faster if we just bathe together. J’onn is waiting for us.”

Lena stood stock still as Kara took off her clothes, much like she did in the inn, with no regard for her sensibilities or Lena’s embarrassment. Lena shut her eyes tight until she heard the sound of water splashing and a giggle.

“You can open your eyes.” Lena peeled one eye open slowly and then the other. Kara was sitting in the tub, covered in bubbles. “I’ve never had a bubble bath before,” Kara said, while giving herself a bubble beard and a pointy hat. Lena couldn’t help but laugh at the image before her and felt a strange sensation prickling all over her skin. “Are you going to come in? I’ll cover my eyes, watch.” She covered her eyes with her bubbly hands and started humming. Lena sighed and looked down at herself. She had dirt all over her skin and her hair was oily and full of sticks. A bath would feel amazing.

She quickly took her clothes off and jumped into the bathtub, splashing water everywhere. When Kara opened her eyes, she smiled at her and Lena started to feel a blush rise up her neck, so she hid it with her own bubble beard. The hot water soothed her aching bones and she had enough room to lie back without awkwardly touching Kara with her feet. It didn’t matter, because Kara poked her with her toe to get her attention.

“Turn around and I’ll wash your hair,” she said easily, as if were the most natural and normal thing to say to another woman. Lena hesitated for a moment and Kara wrinkled her forehead. “What’s the matter?”

“I—nothing,” Lena replied and turned around. She heard Kara pour some shampoo into her hand and fingers raked through her wet hair. It made her entire body tingle. She hadn’t had anyone bathe her or wash her hair since she was a baby, but she’d be lying if she said getting a scalp massage wasn’t the most amazing feeling in the world. Kara finished lathering up Lena’s hair and rinsed it out with a pitcher of fresh water that had been set next to the tub.

“Okay, do me next!” Kara said excitedly and turned around, dunking her whole head underwater to wet it and got rid of her bubble hat. Lena cleared her throat and picked up the bottle of floral shampoo before putting some into her palm. She slowly reached up and lathered the shampoo throughout Kara’s hair and scratched her scalp just like she’d done to Lena, but Kara let out the most guttural moan that Lena had ever heard and no bubble beard would be able to hide the full-faced flush that spread across her face. Lena reached out to the side of the tub and grabbed the other pitcher of water and turned it upside down, drenching Kara’s whole head with water. “Hey!” Kara exclaimed.

“Sorry,” Lena replied hurriedly. “We shouldn’t keep J’onn waiting any longer.” She climbed out of the tub and threw the robe over her body before scampering out of the bathroom. Lena definitely did not feel cleaner.

A few minutes later, Kara emerged from the bathroom, as well, wrapped up in her own robe and looking a little sad.

“Why so glum?” J’onn asked and hummed. “I have something that should cheer you up.” He held up an elegant blue dress and held it out to her. “This should bring out her eyes, don’t you think, Lena?”

Lena looked at the dress and then at Kara, who was staring at her expectantly. She nodded silently and J’onn gave her a questionable look.

“Why don’t you go change into this, Alex can help you out. We need to sell off our lightning, so we’ll head out to my fence once we hit port. Now, off you go.” He gave his wrist a sharp flick as he spoke and waited for Kara to leave the room before pulling Lena off to the side, away from the changing room. “I have the perfect outfit for you, as well. It’s something I wore when I was younger and I think you’d look rather dashing in it.” He walked back into the closet and came back out, holding a regal coat and a silk shirt with trousers and boots. “Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but the two of you don’t appear to be married.”

“We aren’t,” Lena admitted. “I was trying to tell you what you wanted to hear.”

He sat Kara in a chair and pulled out a comb and a pair of scissors. “I see. Well, from what little I’ve seen, you look at her like she’s the most beautiful thing in the galaxy and, if you don’t mind me saying, the two of you do make a striking pair.” He trimmed some hair off the tips while combing it through. She’d be nearly unrecognizable when he was done with her.

Lena shook her head. “No, Kara doesn’t think of me that way. I kind of kidnapped her when we first met. That doesn’t make for a very good first impression. I wanted to take her home to my parents to show them that I could be more than someone’s wife. I can be successful on my own, live my own life. I don’t need to be tied to a spouse in order to be happy.”

“Do you mind if I give you some advice?” Lena shook her head, so J’onn continued. “Be true to yourself, no matter what. I’ve spent the past decade being someone I’m not in front of this crew, because I promised my father that I would keep the family business running. I can’t exactly run a lightning pirate ship while dancing to show tunes. I have a reputation to uphold as the Manhunter and this persona is my own making, and will ultimately be my own unmaking, as well, when I can no longer keep it up. You’ve got a brilliant woman traveling with you and she seems like a sweet girl. If you care for her, let her know. Don’t hide who you are to please others.”

The door to the change room opened and Kara walked out. Lena lost the air in her lungs completely when she saw her in the blue dress and her hair in a fancy up-do, thanks to Alex.

“How do I look?” Kara asked shyly.

J’onn nudged Lena forward and she took a few steps. “You look incredible. I mean, you clean up pretty well.” J’onn gave her a look and shook his head.

Kara looked at Lena’s suit and unconsciously licked her lips. “Uh, and you look rather... handsome.” She swallowed thickly.

“Yes, well, we should be hitting port within a half hour. Kara, would you do me the honor of escorting me and my crew to deal with our fence? He tends to give me better prices if I distract him with shiny things.” He winked at her playfully.

“I’d be honored, Captain J’onzz,” Kara replied with a slight curtsy. J’onn instructed Lena to stay on the ship and hide until they got back.

Soon after, the ship dropped anchor on the side of a high cliff, just below the clouds. Kara accompanied J’onn and the other crew members to J’onn’s fence. Alex and another man carried a big barrel full of live lightning and they walked into a shoddy looking building that had a sign in the front that read _Schott’s Spoils._

“Well, if it isn’t my second favorite sky pirate,” a man with short brown hair and a wide smile said as he walked up to greet them.

“Winslow, you wound me. Who’s the first?”

“Alexandra, of course,” he said, winking at Alex. The auburn-haired woman rolled her eyes and bit her tongue, lest she say something that she couldn’t take back. “What have you got for me?”

“A fresh batch of lightning, just caught not even twenty-four hours ago.”

Winn lifted the cap and the lightning sparked and zapped every which way. “I’ll give you a hundred guineas.”

“Two hundred,” J’onn counter-offered.

“You know lightning is really hard to keep and even harder to move, right? One-fifty.”

“Two hundred,” J’onn said, not budging.

“That-that’s not how you negotiate. See, I’m moving my number up and you’re supposed to meet me. One-eighty.”

“Load it back up. We’ll find someone else who’ll take it.”

“Well, hang on now. Is that any way to treat your favorite fence?”

J’onn halted his crew and turned back around. “You’re not even my top five. Two hundred guineas.”

Winn frowned. “One-ninety-five.”

“Deal,” J’onn said and shook Winn’s hand. “With sales tax, that comes out to two hundred guineas. Nice doing business with you.”

Winn huffed and pulled J’onn aside while the rest of the crew took the lightning deeper into the storeroom. “So, I’ve heard rumors of a fallen star. Sell one of those and you could pack it all up and retire. You haven’t heard anything like that while on your travels, have you?”

J’onn turned his head and glanced at Kara, who gave him a concerned look. “No, haven’t heard anything like that. Where did you hear about it? The market over by the wall?”

“Where else?” Winn replied.

“You can’t trust news that comes from there. There’s all sorts of riffraff out in that neck of the woods. They’d sell you any information they could conjure up if it meant you were going to buy something.”

Just then, another woman stumbled out from the back of the room. “What’s all this racket going on here? Oh, hello. J’onn. Long time no see. What were you two gabbing about?”

“Mistress Marsdin, looking beautiful as ever. We were just talking about how you don’t look a day over twenty-five. Anyway, you two probably have business to attend to. I’ll leave you to it. Winn, Olivia, really good to see you both.”

He hurried out of the shop and Kara followed close behind. They walked back to the ship and Lena was lounging on a stack of boxes when the others arrived, readying their weapons.

“Stand down, you lot. This is my, er, niece, Lena Luthor.” The crew gave him an odd look. “She’s adopted.” Everyone shrugged and relaxed slightly. J’onn cleared his throat and jumped as he remembered the plan. Lena’s hair was pulled back and she was wearing different clothing; she really did look like a completely different person. “Niece, I’ve brought you something to keep you company during the trip.” He sent Kara over to Lena, who smiled at her nervously. The crew looked at her expectantly.

“Oh, right.” Lena grabbed Kara by the waist and brought her in close, so that they were flush against each other and could feel the warmth radiating off of their bodies. “Arghhh,” she said flatly with a fist in the air.

“Yarghhh!” the rest of the crew cheered.

The ship rose anchor and they were back on their way. J’onn said that he would take Lena and Kara as far as he could and get as close to Wall as was possible. The voyage would still take some time, depending on the storms and opportunities to wrangle more lightning on the way there. Every evening, J’onn cooked dinner for the two of them and he started to teach Lena how to swordfight up on the deck. When they had any free time, J’onn played music for Kara, taught her scales on the piano, and also how to dance the waltz.

* * *

Mistress Teschmacher followed the trail to Schott’s Spoils and burst through the door. Winn rubbed his hands together at the prospect of a new customer.

“Why, hello there, madame. How can I be of service?”

“I’m looking for a star. Have you come across one in all of your bartering?”

Winn furrowed his brow. “A star? No, ma’am. I’ve not had the privilege of seeing such a fine thing, but I do have something else you might be interested in.” He pulled out a jar full of chicken feet. “It’s good for your, uh, complexion.”

Mistress Teschmacher touched her wrinkled face and frowned. She waved her hand and Winn went silent. When he tried to speak, the only sound that came out were squawks a chicken clucks. Mistress Teschmacher pulled out a clump of hair and screamed into the sky, continuing on her way to find the elusive star.

* * *

Eventually, Lena and Kara became expert lightning wranglers and Lena was able to beat every crew member in a duel, save for Alex, who was still slightly more skilled than she was. Lena and Kara were spending much more time together on the ship, sharing stories or reading some of J’onn’s books in their cabin. It was the most at peace Lena had felt in ages and she admitted that she didn’t want it to end. She even considered not going back to Wall, but she knew her father would miss her and she would miss him, as well.

One night, on an especially clear evening, all of the stars shone in the sky. J’onn was teaching Kara a new waltz and she was ever so radiant as she laughed at each misstep.

J’onn leaned in closely and whispered into Kara’s ear. “I know what you are.” Kara stiffened and steeled her jaw, ready for J’onn to tell her that he would be selling her off to Winn, after all. “No, don’t worry. No one here will harm you, but there are many who would. Your emotions give you away. You’ve been shining more brightly and I think you know why.”

Kara scoffed. “Of course I’ve been shining, I’m a star. What do stars do best?”

J’onn smiled at her sincerely and Lena walked up to them, tapping J’onn on the shoulder. “May I cut in?” The captain graciously stepped aside and allowed Lena to take over. She placed one hand on Kara’s shoulder and felt the warmth where Kara’s hand was placed on the small of her back. Lena allowed herself to be led as they danced and weaved all over the deck of the ship. Kara accidentally stepped on Lena’s foot after missing a dance step and they both burst out into laughter. Kara’s glow became brighter and she lit up the whole sky like a beacon.


	6. She Loves You

About a month passed before Captain J’onzz and his crew made it to the outskirts of Wall. They would have to pass through Argo in order to get there, as there wasn’t any place closer for them to land safely. Lena and Kara prepared for their departure and thanked all of their new friends. Kara had taken a particular liking to Alex, who, in turn, became to love her like a sister. She’d taught Kara how to tie different sailing knots, how to cook basic meals, and also general appearance things, like how to do her hair and make-up, not that a star really needed those things, but just in case there was someone she wanted to impress. Alex winked at her when she said it, but Kara didn’t understand what that meant.

Before they left, Captain J’onzz handed Lena a tube of lightning to sell if they needed it for a Babylon candle, as most places wouldn’t accept her paper money. He leaned in to whisper something into Lena’s ear while Kara watched them curiously. Lena gave him one last smile and nodded before walking over to Kara.

“What did he whisper to you?”

“Hm?” Lena replied, slinging the lightning tube over her shoulder.

“Just then. What did J’onn say to you?”

Lena shook her head. “Oh, nothing. He was just telling me to use the lightning if we needed to. We could barter for another Babylon candle, or something else to get us home.” She let the words slip out, insinuating that Wall would become Kara’s home, as well.

After the two descended off the ship, the captain walked out of the closet in nothing but his underthings, holding up two long gowns. “Alex, which do you like better on me? The yellow one or the lavender one?”

“The lavender one brings out your eyes, sir,” the woman replied. “Perhaps paired with the white feather boa.”

The captain hummed and nodded in agreement. “I think you’re absolutely right.”

They heard a commotion on the top deck and went up to see what was happening. Mon-El’s hired sellswords had boarded their vessel as it was docked and drew their swords. Mon-El stalked forward and lifted his sword up to J’onn’s neck, giving him a once over and a look of disgust.

“This is the mighty Manhunter? Does your crew know you dress like a brothel owner?”

J’onn hung his head in shame, not looking his crew in the eye, but his crew drew their swords and Alex did as well with a smirk on her face.

“Let’s go, boys!” she yelled as they all launched forward and attacked Mon-El’s men. J’onn’s crew were much better swordfighters, as Mon-El had recruited his men through the local mercenary classifieds and didn’t have time to test any of them. One by one, they were cut down until only Mon-El was left. They creeped forward until he was surrounded.

“Pity about Schott, he turned chicken when I tried to find out where you’d gone with the star. Luckily, I’m an expert tracker and followed you here.” He knew he was outmatched and was posturing to hide his fear. He quickly turned and jumped off the side of the ship and into the depths of the ocean, diving deeper and swimming out of reach.

J’onn turned around slowly to face the rest of his crew, who were all staring at him. “I can explain.”

One of the other men stepped forward and chewed on a piece of wood before clapping J’onn on the shoulder. “Sir, we all knew. If you think we’re just a bunch of brainless fools, we certainly are, but we also pay attention. You’re our captain and we’ll fight for you until our last dying breaths. We’re loyal to you and this ship.”

J’onn looked at him and then at the rest of his crew, a tear forming at the corner of his eye when they all nodded their agreement.

“Yargh?”

“Yargh!” his crew answered and they all rushed up to pat him on the shoulder and cheer for their captain, whom they’d follow through thick in thin, regardless of what clothing he wore or what music he danced to. Blood ran thicker than water, or in this case, thicker than rain water.

Back down on solid ground, Lena and Kara waved up at the departing ship and watched as it sailed away across the sky. They continued down a dirt path in the direction toward Wall, standing very close together.

“So, that was quite an adventure,” Lena noted.

“It was,” Kara replied with a big smile.

“Was that the kind of adventure you dreamed about?”

Kara was thoughtful for a minute. “I think it was better. My dreams never really included anyone else, but I think having you there made it more enjoyable.”

Lena suddenly pushed her into some bushes and fell on top of her, putting her finger over her lips to quiet Kara’s outburst that she was most assuredly about to have.

“I heard something,” Lena whispered. They waited in silence for a few seconds, but Kara didn’t hear anything. She just felt warm and could smell the perfume Alex had lent her. Lena continued to look around, anywhere but into Kara’s eyes, but they were like magnets and she couldn’t help it.

“Doesn’t it tempt you?” Kara asked.

“What?”

“Immortality. Let’s say it wasn’t my heart, just some other star you didn’t know.”

Lena scoffed. “Do you honestly think I could kill anyone? Let’s say I could, I still don’t think immortality is something I’d be interested in. It feels, I don’t know, lonely. I suppose it would be different if I could share it with someone – someone I loved.”

Kara smiled and a bright halo started to shine around her. Lena looked over her shoulder, not noticing. “I think we’re in the clear. Let’s keep moving.” She stood up and helped Kara up, as well, emerging from the bushes and continuing down the road. They stopped at a nearby clearing once Kara’s stomach started to rumble. Lena had her sit down on a rock while she went off to find some food.

“Be careful,” Kara called out after her and Lena turned and gave her a little wave. Further down the road, Lena found a blackberry bush and started to gather some berries in a handkerchief. As she was plucking the juicy berries off the bush, she noticed a beautiful blue bird hopping around in the grass and it had a thin, silver chain around its leg.

“Oh, hello. Are you lost?” Lena asked, bending down to look at the bird more closely. She took the chain in her hand and furrowed her brow. “This looks just like—“ As if in slow motion, the snowdrop slid out of her coat pocket and onto the grass. Something hit her over the head and she was knocked unconscious, falling to the ground with the blackberries rolling away. The glass flower her father had given her before she left Wall had also landed next to the blackberries.

Mistress Marsdin tossed the log to the side of the road. “Thief! This flower belongs to me.” She plucked the flower out of the grass and lifted Lena’s body as if she weighed nothing, tossing her into the caravan. “And now that you no longer have its protection, I can do this.” With a flick of her wrist, Mistress Marsdin mumbled a spell under her breath and turned Lena into a mouse, sticking her into a wooden cage that hung from the caravan wall. The bird tweeted and hopped around anxiously as Kara ran up the road and started yelling at the woman. She’d gotten bored, so she went to look for Lena, only to find her being kidnapped.

“Hey! Let her go,” Kara yelled after the woman, who appeared to be ignoring her. When she caught up to them, she saw the bird back on its perch and rounded the caravan to confront the older woman. “Did you hear me? I said let go of my friend.” Kara tried to step forward into the woman’s space, but she bounced off of an invisible wall that appeared to be separating the two. The woman continued on her way, setting up the caravan and humming to herself. Kara circled around the woman and huffed. “Witch, can you see me? I swear, if you hurt her, I’ll-I’ll haunt you for an eternity!”

She looked at the bird with pleading eyes, but there was nothing that could be done. As the vendor cart started moving, Kara quickly jumped into the back and looked around for Lena, but couldn’t find her.

“Lena?”

The mouse inside the cage woke up and its squeak brought Kara’s attention to it.

“Oh, hello little one. You’re very cute.” She opened the cage and took the mouse in her palm. Its little whiskers tickled Kara’s skin and she laughed. “I don’t suppose you’ve seen my friend, have you?” The caravan shook as it moves down the bumpy dirt road and Kara didn’t really know what to do. “Wait, are you my friend? Are you Lena? Look at me if you can understand me.” The mouse’s beady eyes looked side to side, but not up at her face. Kara sat down on a sack of grain and sighed. She found a block of cheese sitting on a cutting board and tore of a piece, feeding it to Mouse Lena. “You know how I said I knew little about love? That isn’t true, I know quite a lot. I’ve watched people fall in love for centuries, seen civilizations destroyed because of it. All of that violence and the hate it breeds made me want to turn away, but I also saw how mankind could love and how beautiful it could truly be.

“And, yes, I know it should be unconditional, but it’s also unpredictable and uncontrollable. Sometimes it’s easily mistaken for loathing. What I’m trying to say is, I think my loathing for you was actually love. I think—I think I’m in love with you, Lena. And if you wanted my heart, I’d give it to you willingly, because it no longer belongs to me. I don’t want anything in return, just knowing you love me back. And even if you don’t, that’s okay. I don’t know why I’m talking to a mouse, this is ridiculous.”

After a few hours, the caravan stopped and the door opened. It was nighttime and they were in a small town. The witch stared at the mouse that had somehow escaped the cage, grabbing her by the tail and putting her on the cobblestone. She waved her finger and the mouse returned to her original form.

“I will take back the stolen flower as payment for your safe passage. Argo is that way,” she pointed behind them, “and Wall is that way,” she pointed forward. “The spell will make you woozy for a while, and your mind won’t be right for a minute or two, but your debt is paid. Farewell, thief.”

Lena tried to draw her sword, but she tumbled to the ground instead. Kara jumped out of the back of the caravan and rushed to her.

“Lena, are you okay?”

“Mother?”

“What—no, I’m not your mother. Do I look like your mother? That would be awkward.” She helped Lena stand up and held her upright. Looking around, she saw smoke coming out of a chimney nearby. “Maybe that’s an inn. Let’s go there. You should probably take a bath before you present me to your parents.”

Lena took a lock of Kara’s hair and sniffed it. “You smell like burning.”

Kara shook her head. “Probably just the incense. Come on, you have to actually try to walk. I’m not dragging you all the way to the inn.”

Once they arrived, Kara got them a room and walked up to it. Kara filled up the bathtub and Lena was finally starting to become more coherent, but not before she stripped herself naked. Kara turned and squeaked, instantly turning away.

“You could have waited!”

Lena smirked while climbing into the bath. Revenge was fun. She grabbed the soap and started to wash off the dirt and grime. “Did you mean what you said in the caravan?” Kara sputtered and stood up to face Lena, forgetting she was naked in the bathtub. She covered her eyes and huffed.

“You… you heard that? You were a mouse. You wanted cheese! I didn’t kn—I asked you to give me a sign!”

“But then I would have missed that heartfelt admission. It was really lovely, by the way.”

Kara threw her head back and groaned in frustration.

Lena continued speaking, leaning against the edge of the tub. “Do you want to know what J’onn really whispered to me on the ship before we left? He told me that my Heart’s Desire was right in front of me and I didn’t have to look any further.”

“Really?” Kara asked, with a crinkle in her forehead, not sure if Lena was joking with her again or not. When Lena nodded and didn’t laugh or brush it off, Kara puffed out a breath and whispered, “Oh.” She climbed into the tub, still completely clothed, soaking her dress. She sat down in front of Lena, bringing her hands up to cup her cheeks. She leaned in and kissed Lena gently, and Kara instantly lit up like a lamp, pulling Lena closer to deepen the kiss. Lena slotted herself between Kara’s legs, but the bathtub wasn’t really wide enough, so Kara had to dangle her legs over the edge, which was even more difficult while wearing a soaked dress. Lena paused and looked at their awkward position, both of them bursting into laughter.

“We should get out.”

Kara snorted. “Yes, probably.” They climbed out of the bath and Lena wrapped a towel around Kara’s shoulders before getting her own and drying herself off. Lena sat on the edge of the bed, clutching the towel around herself. She’d never had sex before and she suspected Kara never really had the opportunity while shining up in the sky, either. She heard Kara climbing underneath the covers and imagined her naked body lying so close to her. Swallowing thickly, she felt her body warm up and knew that her skin was flushed.

She nearly jumped off the bed when she felt a hand on her arm. “Is everything okay?” Kara asked.

Lena turned her head and smiled slightly. “Yes, of course. We should get some sleep.” She turned down the sheets and got into bed, still wearing the damp towel around herself. Kara raised an eyebrow and continued watching her. Lena’s cheeks flushed something fierce and she didn’t know what to say. Even now that her feelings, or whatever feelings Captain J’onzz believed she had, were all out in the open, things somehow felt more awkward when she thought it would make things easier.

In truth, Lena never understood what it was she had felt on the ship, but she knew it felt good. It made her feel warm and safe, having Kara nearby and sharing things with her. The month they had spent with the captain and his crew were some of the best days Lena could ever remember having. She did wonder, though, what she was going to do once they got to Wall. Would Kara leave her? Would she go back up into the sky, back to all of her brothers and sisters? If Lena looked up, would she recognize her?

Her star.

“I’m excited for tomorrow,” she said. “I’d really love to meet your parents. Do you think they’ll like me?”

“There’s no way they couldn’t like you,” Lena replied and continued to stare up at the ceiling. Kara reached her hand over to turn Lena’s face, so that she could look into her eyes. Lena’s chest heaved as she felt her heart beating out of it, but when Kara leaned in to kiss her, every thought in her mind vanished. She pulled Kara closer to her, feeling her soft skin beneath her fingertips as hands gripped her hair tightly, pulling her as close as possible.

Kara slid a leg between Lena’s and pushed it up into her. She groaned and quickly realized that the wetness between her legs was not residual from the bathwater. Kara then climbed on top of her and kissed her fiercely, the towel falling away to the sides. The star gasped and lightly dragged a hand down her torso.

“You’re very pretty,” Kara said as she regarded the woman beneath her.

“Coming from a star, that’s high praise,” Lena chuckled nervously. Kara leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on Lena’s jaw.

“I don’t know what I’m doing,” she whispered.

“Me neither,” replied Lena.

“Have you ever, um, touched yourself?” Kara asked, blushing profusely, biting down on her lip. Lena’s eyes widened. She definitely was not prepared to discuss her private extra curricular habits.

She cleared her throat. “Once or twice.”

“Show me what you like?” Kara asked innocently. Lena breathed in deeply and took one of Kara’s hands, lowering it under the covers. Kara lay down on her side, one arm propping her up, and let her hand be moved to wherever Lena wanted it. Her hand moved through course hair and lower until she felt a slick wetness and Lena’s breath hitched. She then took one of Kara’s fingers and rubbed circles around her clit until Kara took over. Lena’s back arched, one hand clenching the sheets beside her and the other pinned beneath Kara’s weight.

Her breaths became more labored and she moaned when Kara started kissing up her neck and biting down on the pale skin of her shoulder. Lena screwed her eyes shut as she came and Kara kissed her cheek and her forehead as she rode out her orgasm, her body shuddering and shaking with pleasure.

“Wow,” Kara whispered. “You’re so beautiful when you, um, when you do that.”

Lena laughed breathlessly and covered her face with her unpinned arm. “The technical term is ‘orgasm,’ but there are other ways to describe it.”

Kara smiled down at her, her eyes twinkling. “Well, then, I would like to give you many more orgasms!” Lena snorted and shook her head, giggling as Kara kissed down her neck and between her breasts, traveling lower to her stomach and hips until she landed just above the place where her fingers just were, when she gave Lena her last _orgasm_. She breathed in deeply and memorized each scent, kissing small patches of skin and feeling Lena writhe beneath her.

“Kara, please,” she whispered headily, grasping onto the hand that was lying on top of her hip.

“Can I… taste you?” Kara asked nervously. She wasn’t sure if that was a thing she should, or could, do, but when Lena moaned and nodded her head fiercely, bucking her hips upward, she knew it was something that Lena wanted. She slid her tongue through Lena’s wetness experimentally and when Lena cried out and arched her back, she took that as a sign to continue. She learned quickly that she loved all of the different sounds she could get out of Lena and wanted to learn what each one meant.

She licked again and swirled her tongue around Lena’s swollen clit, sucking it into her mouth, cataloging the other sounds coming from the woman beneath her. She then tested the waters with her fingers, sliding them where her tongue had been, getting them wet and stopping at Lena’s entrance. When a strangled moan left her chest, she took Kara by the wrist and guided her inside, both of them gasping at the motion. Two fingers eventually became three and once Kara added pressure to Lena’s clit, all she saw were stars as she came again.

Lena’s body was completely spent after the physical exertion she’d only dreamed about and heard rumors about, but nothing prepared her for how it actually felt. She could feel Kara watching her and covered her eyes with an arm. “We should get some sleep. We’ll need rest if we’re going to make it to Wall tomorrow.” She lifted her arm and regarded Kara for a moment. “You’re shining very brightly right now.”

Kara shrugged easily. “I’m happy. Stars shine the brightest when they’re happy.” Lena pulled her down and kissed her soundly, her teeth pulling at Kara’s bottom lip until she groaned once it was released.

“Goodnight, Kara,” Lena smiled.

Kara pecked Lena on the cheek before saying goodnight and the flutter in Lena’s chest almost made her jump out of bed and fly out the window. She was happy, too. It took her a while to settle down, but she eventually did and mentally prepared for their journey to Wall in the morning.

* * *

Mistress Teschmacher held the black hood of her cloak over her face while she called her sisters. Their images emerged in the water in a horse trough and they took one look at Eve and grimaced.

“You look awful,” said Indigo. “You’ve been using too much magic.”

“Well, if I didn’t have to deal with those nincompoop siblings, I would have gotten to the star much sooner and her heart would be ours.”

“She’s back on land, sister,” Imra mentioned. “The runes say they’re close to Wall, probably another half day’s travel. If you keep going, you should be able to catch up to them.”

“You’d better hurry. Remember, if she steps one foot into Wall, she’ll become nothing more tha—“

“—nothing more than a piece of rock, yes, I know,” Eve interrupted. “I’ll get her. I won’t fail again.” She waved her hand over the water and her sisters’ images disappeared and what was left was her aged face with wiry hair. With a growl, she slapped the water and watched the ripples shake and she stormed off to her carriage and made her way toward Wall.

* * *

The next morning, when Kara woke up, the other side of the bed was empty. She rubbed her eyes and got out of bed, walking over to the window that had the curtain drawn. She opened it and let the bright sunshine in, stretching her arms high above her head. She yawned and looked around the room. All of Lena’s clothes were gone, which was puzzling. She got dressed and made her way down to the front of the inn and asked the innkeeper about Lena.

“Excuse me, have you seen my friend?”

“She left absurdly early this morning, said to tell you she’s gone to see James. She’s decided on who she wants to marry.”

“What?” Kara couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “She didn’t say anything else?”

“I’m afraid not.”

Kara took a step back and felt a pain in her chest. She almost felt like she was suffocating and her knees nearly buckled beneath her. She ran out the front of the inn, and frantically searched for Lena, looking up and down the road they had taken there, but it was completely empty. Remembering what the caravan witch said, she followed the path in the direction of Wall. Lena wouldn’t have left her. She didn’t want James. The entire time they were together, all Lena talked about was how much she _didn’t _ want to marry James and the whole point of her finding Kara was to get out of the marriage.

Unless…

Unless it was all a ruse. Unless Lena really did intend to kill her or sell her. With the Faerie Market back in town, she could get a hefty price. Perhaps it was all a lie and Lena felt nothing for her. Kara felt her lip quiver and tears pricked the corners of her eyes. How could she be so foolish? She let her heart take over and blind her to reason. Lena didn’t want her.

She dragged her feet across the dirt road, moving closer to the edge of the town like a ghost. She passed a stall where vendors were beginning to take their merchandise out to sell at the market and a woman yelled at her, telling her to stop, but Kara paid her no mind. Trying not to burst into sobs in the middle of the road, Kara kept walking, edging toward the wall.

The woman from the market stall tried to chase after Kara, but her ankle was tied to the caravan and she couldn’t move. She closed everything up and locked the sleeping old witch inside, grabbing the horse’s reins and snapping them down until it took off down the street and out of town, narrowly missing pedestrians.

Lena was strolling happily to her parents’ house and she walked right in, calling for her mother and father. Her mother was busy in the kitchen and took one look at her daughter, giving her a once over.

“My goodness, what happened to you? You look like a completely new person.”

Lionel rushed downstairs and wrapped Lena up in a big hug, lifting her off the ground. “Welcome home, darling.”

Lillian wiped her hands off and walked over to the other two. “Well? Did you find it?”

“I did,” Lena beamed. “It’s more beautiful than you could ever imagine.” She pulled out a handkerchief out of her pocket. Before she’d left, she cut a lock of Kara’s hair to show them as proof, but once she unfolded the fabric, there was nothing but black, powdery stardust left.

“Doesn’t look like much to me,” Lillian said.

“It-it was here a minute ago. Oh no, Kara. She can’t enter Wall!” Lena ran back out of the house and down the road, hoping that she wasn’t already too late.

The woman riding the caravan sped down the road, trying to catch up to Kara before she crossed into Wall. The caravan nearly tipped over as it made the last turn, but it righted itself. It came to a screeching halt and the woman in blue jumped off and grabbed Kara before she stepped over the threshold into Wall.

“Wait! You can’t cross the wall. You can’t leave Faerie,” she panted, holding onto Kara for dear life.

“What are you talking about?” Kara asked, frowning.

“If you cross the line into the human world, you’ll die.”

From the opposite direction, a black chariot with jet black horses pulling it rolled up and stopped in front of them. Out climbed Mistress Teschmacher looking worse for the wear.

“Oh, good, you found her for me.”

“Now, what the blazes is going on?” Mistress Marsdin demanded as she flopped out of the back of the caravan, her hair mussed and glass flowers poking out everywhere. “I always knew you were more trouble than you were worth,” she muttered about the woman in blue. She looked over at the other witch, who appeared to be caressing the air. “You again. What are you doing here?”

“I’m here to take the star back with me,” Mistress Teschmacher said breezily, stroking Kara's hair.

“Star? What star? Surely you don’t mean my girl. Pah! There’s no way she’s a star, or else I’d have cut out her heart for myself years ago.”

“No, not her, you dolt. Anyway, you bore me. What shall it be, Olivia? Heads or tails?”

Mistress Marsdin lifted a hand, but Mistress Teschmacher was too quick and flicked her wrist, a puff of green smoke floating into the air where Mistress Marsdin once stood. In her place was a small creature with the hind legs of a toad and the head of a guinea pig.

“Too slow. Come along, star. In you go.”

“She’s not going anywhere,” the woman in blue said, holding Kara close to her.

Eve rolled her eyes. “Fine, you can come, too.” When no one budged, Mistress Teschmacher glared at the both of them. “Either you can ride inside the coach, or be dragged along behind it. I don’t care which. Get in.”

Reluctantly, both the woman and the star climbed into the coach while Mistress Teschmacher climbed in the front and snapped the reins down. The horses galloped away from Wall just as Lena ran up to the wall guardian, who had been hiding the entire time.

“Susan, what happened? Where did they go?”

The young guard started ambling away from the wall. “I don’t get paid enough for this. I don’t get paid at all! I quit!”

Lena stood in front of the man and stopped his forward movement. “_Susan_! Where did they go?”

“Oh, the witches? Saw them go that way,” she pointed down the road that led away from Wall and deeper into the forest. Lena breezed past her, as she continued walking away with her tiny stool, muttering something about needing to move out of Wall and settling down with a nice girl.

The horse from Mistress Marsdin’s caravan was still attached to the harness and reins, so she quickly detached it from the rest of the coach and jumped onto the animal’s back, following the road where Susan had pointed her. She rode deeper and deeper into the woods, the sunlight being choked out by the canopy of trees above, and she finally happens upon a small, dilapidated cabin in the center. It was covered in vines protruding through every crevice between the wood slats and cobwebs hung from every edge.

Lena dismounted and tied the horse to a nearby tree before walking toward the cabin with purpose. A hand reached out to grab her and pulled her behind a thorny push.

“Hey! What are you do—”

Mon-El brought a knife up to her throat, but she was just as fast and dug her own dagger into his ribs. He smirked and released her.

“Well, what are you doing here, then?” he replied. He looked at her as if he didn’t recognize her. Perhaps Captain J’onzz’s makeover really did work.

“I could ask you the same thing,” Lena said, peering through one of the filthy windows. Inside, she could see three older women, the woman from the caravan, and Kara, who was being held by two of the witches. Mon-El looked through the window and sighed.

“One of the old hags killed my sister, so I am duty bound to exact revenge on her. There are three of them and two of us, so we might stand a chance.”

Lena hated to admit it, but the prince was right. They had a much better chance at defeating the witches together, rather than alone. She put a hand over the pommel of her sword sheathed on her hip – a gift from Alex.

“Okay, we go in together,” she told the man.

Lena knew she couldn’t trust him as far as she could throw him, but she’d at least be able to run in and get Kara while he distracted the others. She needed to be smart about it. There was no way they could just rush in and not get turned into snakes, or something, so they’d need to take them by surprise. She took a deep breath and they sneaked around until they found an open window. Lena climbed in, sneaking behind a large chest and Mon-El crept up behind her. The inside of the cabin looked much larger inside than it did outside, must have been some kind of illusion. They watched as two of the witches took Kara to a large table in the center of the room and tied her to it while Mistress Teschmacher sharpened a large glass dagger. Kara's shine was as dull as an old coin and she looked as if she was resigned to her fate, not fighting at all. Lena closed her eyes and bid her time. Mon-El, however, had a different plan and drew his sword, jumping over the chest. Lena rolled her eyes and let him drown in his own bravado while she fully prepared to save the life and the heart of her star.


	7. There Is a Light That Never Goes Out

Mon-El came out of hiding with his weapon drawn and pointed it toward the witches. “Give the star to me and the four of you may leave here with your lives.”

“Mon-El?” the woman in blue said as the man made himself known.

“Una? I mean, Áine! Where have you been? We thought you were dead.”

“Sister!” all of the ghost siblings cheered in unison.

“Kidnapped by a witch,” she shrugged. “The usual.”

“_You again_!” Mistress Teschmacher hissed, pointing at Mon-El and interrupting their family reunion. “Sisters, this is the cretin who’s also after our star. Get him.”

Indigo grinned and stepped forward. She threw her hands in front of her and red hot flames shot out of them, heading straight for Mon-El. He tried to dodge out of the way, but his jacket caught on fire a little and he had to stamp it out with his hands. He pointed his sword at the witch and lunged forward, only to be pushed back by more fire. The witch then sent the flames at Mon-El’s sword making it too hot to hold and he threw it to the floor with a growl. He ducked behind a metal covering and waited. Indigo continued to throw fire at Mon-El’s shield until it sputtered and her magic ran out. She stomped her foot and shook her hands out, looking even more shriveled than usual.

Mon-El jumped out from behind the covering, grabbed the sword and flung it at the witch, impaling her with it and sticking her to the wall. Eve signaled to Imra to go next and she descended the stairs. Every metal object in the room floated into the air and pointed themselves at Mon-El. Again, he barely dodged them as they shot past his head and lodged themselves into the front door of the cabin.

Lena was still crouched behind the chest when the woman in blue ran over to her. The younger woman was about to draw her sword, but Áine embraced her tightly. Lena’s body remained stiff as a board.

“Lena, I’m your mother. I’m your real mother,” she sobbed.

“My real mother? What are you talking about? I have a mother.”

“I’ll explain everything, I promise. Now, go be the hero I know you are.” She kissed Lena on the forehead and took a glass flower out of her hair and slid it into her daughter’s coat pocket. Lena nodded and drew her sword. She darted out from behind the wooden chest and headed straight for the animal cages that lined the wall. Coyotes, birds, and other small animals rushed out of their cages and charged right for Imra, scratching her and biting her. The screams echoed through the entire house until there was only silence.

Mon-El nodded at her and removed his sword from Indigo's body, walking slowly toward the stairs and toward Mistress Teschmacher. She sneered at him and pulled out a clay figure from her pocket and held it up in front of her. With a flick, she bent one of the arms backwards and Mon-El screamed as his own bones cracked and his arm bent in a direction it shouldn’t be able to go. Mistress Teschmacher cackled as she then bent one of the legs in the opposite direction. Another scream came and Mon-El crumpled to the floor, unable to move.

“Let’s put out my sister’s flames, shall we?” She dropped the doll into the pool of water at the bottom of the stairs and Mon-El began to float into the air. The oxygen in his lungs left him and he gasped for breath until he drowned in virtually nothing. His ghost suddenly appeared next to the rest of his siblings and he shrugged at them sadly.

“Well, now what?” Veronica threw her hands up in the air helplessly.

“We do have one more sibling,” Maxwell pointed out. They all looked at Áine, who was still near the back of the room.

“And the rest of us?” Morgan asked.

Lex clapped him on the back. “We’re going to have to learn to live with one another.”

“Forever,” Mon-El sighed. Everyone else groaned.

Mistress Teschmacher caught Lena moving out of the corner of her eye as she tightened Kara’s restraints on the table. She stalked down the stairs slowly, green smoke coming from her fingertips. “Only two of you left to go.” Lena knew that she wouldn’t be able to get within range to use her sword, but she remembered something else. She pulled the tube off of her shoulder and carefully unscrewed the cap. Lightning flickered and zapped every which way and when Lena opened the cap more, it shot out forward in every direction until it honed in on Mistress Teschmacher. She shook and convulsed as the lightning burned her until she fell to the floor.

She crawled on her hands and knees and her appearance began to change. No longer did she have the blonde and gray scraggly hair, no longer did she share the cheeks of a young cherub. Now, her hair darkened and her eyes piercing, she stood up straight. Rhea stood before them with a smirk on her face.

“Mother?” Áine called out.

“Well, no shit,” Leslie said with a loud scoff. “She must have been the one who killed our brother in that hunting accident.”

“I knew that boar looked kind of suspicious,” Zod replied.

“Hello, dear. Long time no see,” Rhea said.

“I-I don’t understand,” Lena’s mother screwed her eyebrows close together, trying to put the puzzle pieces together. Her mother ruled Daxam Keep with her father. Her mother, also a witch, who could be in two places at once and change her appearance, killed her brother.

“Oh, Áine, you always were the smartest child of the bunch. Firstborn, always so adventurous, so carefree. Imagine my luck when I happened upon an apprentice witch who was looking for a slave girl to take with her. Mistress Marsdin took you off my hands gladly in exchange for a few additional years of life and the empty promise that I would share the heart of a star should I ever find one. I knew Lar Gand would never allow me to rule Daxam Keep once he died; it would go to one of our children. Such an archaic and outdated rule. I could rule just fine, and with the heart of a star and all of my children going at each other’s throats until they killed each other off, I could rule forever. 

“Mother, please,” Áine pleaded. “Let me take my daughter home. I’ve missed her entire childhood while working for that horrible witch.”

“I’m not leaving without Kara,” Lena said, turning toward her mother. “I love her.” When Kara heard this, she smiled and began to glow brighter.

“How touching,” Rhea sneered. “Then I guess neither one of you will be leaving.” The vines that covered the walls outside began to slither inside the house, grabbing onto anything they could. Áine’s ankle was caught by one and Lena cut her free with her sword, but where that vine broke, three more tendrils appeared.

“Go, save her,” she told her daughter. Rhea stood over Kara while the other two were distracted and raised a sharp glass dagger overhead. She mumbled something unintelligible and Lena ran toward the stairs, cutting vines in her way. She grabbed ahold of a rope that still held a chandelier in place, cutting the rope until it lifted her off the ground and flung her in the air to the top of the stairs. She ducked and rolled across the floor and stood up quickly, drawing her sword and holding the blade up to Rhea’s throat.

Rhea’s hands stilled and she raised an eyebrow. “Impressive.” She lowered her arms, tossing the knife to the ground and holding both hands up in surrender. “Go on, then. You’ve bested me.” Lena cut Kara free and helped her off of the table. They ran down the stairs and Lena took her mother by the hand as they all ran toward the door, Kara glowing brightly.

With a snap of Rhea’s fingers, the doors and windows were barricaded shut. She clapped her hands together and every mirror and glass inside the tiny house shattered. The remaining chandeliers fell to the floor and Rhea descended the stairs slowly, her magic use sucking the years from her body.

“You didn’t honestly think it would be that easy, did you? Please, I’ve worked too hard to get here and I’m not letting that star out of my sight. I should thank you, though. Her heart was dull and dying when I found her, but now you’ve made it come alive. And now her heart is mine.”

“No, it’s not,” Kara whispered. She looked into Lena’s eyes and smiled. “Kiss me.”

“What? _Now_?” Lena asked incredulously.

Kara nodded and hugged Lena close, speaking softly into her ear. “What do stars do best?” She pulled away and closed her eyes before leaning forward and tilting her head slightly. “Shine,” she answered her own question, pressing their lips together. Her hand wrapped around the nape of Lena’s neck, gently tickling the short hairs there and her other arm snaked the small of her back. Their kiss deepened and Kara started to shine brighter and brighter, filling the entire house and the surrounding areas with pure light. Lena reached out to grab her mother’s hand and pulled her forward until the ground began to shake and Rhea screamed until she was vaporized by the starlight. Small flecks of stardust filled the air and the house’s windows and doors opened once more.

“Why didn’t you do that sooner?” Lena asked.

“My heart was broken. The innkeeper told me you’d left, because you knew who you wanted to marry, so I thought you’d gone to tell James. I thought I’d lost you, but you came back for me.”

Lena smiled. “You could never lose me. I love you.” She cradled Kara’s face in her hands and kissed her again. She knew that innkeeper was a dolt and probably should have written a letter, but you live and you learn. She told Lena that she’d gone back to Wall to tell her parents that she’d found the star she was looking for and it was more beautiful than she could have ever imagined. She also told James that she wouldn’t be marrying him and would instead set him up with a local shopgirl named Lucy. But once she realized that Kara wouldn’t be able to enter Wall without dying, she rushed back to find her and stop her.

Lena broke the kiss, air filling her lungs again and she held both Kara and Áine’s hands in her own. Her heart was so full and she couldn’t wait to get home to see her father and tell him what an adventure she had. Just as they were about to leave, she stopped. She noticed a large, yellow, gem on the floor. The Daxam topaz had broken out of its chain and Lena held it out to her mother.

“This is yours. You’re the last remaining sibling of Daxam Keep.”

Áine shook her head. “No, I have no interest in ruling. It’s yours now.” She closed Lena’s hand around the gem and kissed her daughter’s cheek.

Lena turned to face Kara with a frown on her face. “I can’t take you home with me,” she said frowning, “but would you rule Daxam by my side? I know I told you I'd help you get home, but--”

“Lena Luthor, are you asking me to marry you? We haven’t even gone on a proper date,” Kara answered with a giggle.

“Well, technically, we had a date on J’onn’s ship. Remember all those times I cooked for you?”

“You and twenty other shipmates!”

“Aw, they’re kind of sweet,” Leslie gushed.

“Yeah, if you like that kind of thing,” Mon-El replied, sticking his tongue out in disgust. Now that there was a new Queen of Daxam, the deceased siblings were able to travel to the afterlife and were all whisked away. Lena, her mother, and Kara traveled back to Daxam together and awaited their coronation. All of the townspeople of Wall were invited, including Lena’s parents. Her father was reunited with Áine, the love of his life, and Lillian graciously stepped aside, but was welcome to stay in the keep with them, for she was still Lena’s mother. She softened some once she saw how in love Lena was and decided that some adventure wasn’t so bad after all. 

Lena and Kara ruled over Daxam for the next eighty years, but no one lived forever, except for those who possessed the heart of a star, and Kara had given hers to Lena completely. When their children and grandchildren were grown, they knew it was time. They lit a Babylon candle and thought of home and that was where they lived happily ever after, as two stars shining in the sky together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happened upon this poem while finishing up writing and thought it was kind of perfect. Thanks for reading.
> 
> _We have calcium in our bones,_  
_iron in our veins,_  
_carbon in our souls,_  
_and nitrogen in our brains._  
_93 percent stardust,_  
_with souls made of flames,_  
_we are all just stars_  
_that have people names._  
  
-Nikita Gill


End file.
